Nonaqueous UFC suspensions, used as conductive additive in cathodes for lithium batteries

Three nonaqueous ultrafine carbon suspensions (UFC) were explored as conductive additives in LiMn2O4 cathodes for Li cell. The specific surface areas, pore volume distributions of the pure materials and of the cathode mixtures were measured. The results were compared with these obtained using TAB2 alone. A considerable decreasing of the specific resistivity and pore volume increasing of the UFC pellets after sintering was established. The electrochemical cycling test showed 5 to 10% higher discharge capacity of the cathodes containing 20% UFC+TAB2 at a ratio from 1:3 to 1:1, than that of the cathodes with only 20% TAB2. It is proposed the better results are due to the two physical chemical properties: pore volume and specific resistivity.