Material and Structural Design of Novel Binder Systems for High-Energy, High-Power Lithium-Ion Batteries

ConspectusDeveloping high-performance battery systems requires the optimization of every battery component, from electrodes and electrolyte to binder systems. However, the conventional strategy to fabricate battery electrodes by casting a mixture of active materials, a nonconductive polymer binder, and a conductive additive onto a metal foil current collector usually leads to electronic or ionic bottlenecks and poor contacts due to the randomly distributed conductive phases. When high-capacity electrode materials are employed, the high stress generated during electrochemical reactions disrupts the mechanical integrity of traditional binder systems, resulting in decreased cycle life of batteries. Thus, it is critical to design novel binder systems that can provide robust, low-resistance, and continuous internal pathways to connect all regions of the electrode.In this Account, we review recent progress on material and structural design of novel binder systems. Nonconductive polymers with rich carboxylic gro...