Aqueous self-crosslinking composite binders of electrodes for electrochemical devices

Unmet Need: The degradation of silicon anodes in lithium-ion batteries create obstacles in achieving longer life cycle and enhanced performance

Conventional binders are not suitable for Silicon electrodes because of their weak adhesion force with Silicon and copper current collector. Binders play a crucial role in maintaining the structural integrity of electrodes during charging and discharging, and thus significantly affect the cycling performance and rate capability of batteries. WSU inventors designed a biopolymer composite binder for high performance micro-sized silicon/carbon anodes via combined experimental and computational approach. This work provided a promising application of novel binders for high-capacity electrodes towards the development of lithium batteries with high energy density.

The Technology: Developed aqueous self-crosslinking composite binders in aqueous solution

WSU inventors have developed the aqueous self-crosslinking composite binder of electrodes for batteries. These composite binders include two components that contain carboxylic groups and amino acids which exhibit chemically self-crosslinking interactions via both inter- and intra-chain hydrogen bonds.

Applications: