Electrochemical binding and wiring in battery materials

Binders in battery electrodes not only provide mechanical cohesiveness during battery operation but can also affect the electrode properties via the surface modification. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM), we study the surface structuring of three binders: polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and gelatin. We try to find correlation between the observed structures and the measured electrochemical charge–discharge characteristics. We further measure the binding ability of gelatin adsorbed from solutions of different pHs. While the best binding ability of gelatin is obtained at pH about 9, the least polarization is observed at pH 12. Both properties are explained based on the observed gelatin structuring as a function of pH. In the second part of this study, gelatin is used as a surface agent that dictates the organization of nanometre-sized carbon black particles around micrometre-sized cathodic active particles. Using microcontact impedance measurements on polished pellets we show that using gelatin-forced carbon black deposition the average electronic resistance around LiMn2O4 particles is decreased by more than two orders of magnitude. We believe that it is this decrease in resistance that improves significantly the rate performance of various cathode materials, such as LiMn2O4 and LiCoO2.