• Consultancy for Lithium-ion Battery Research
• Consultancy for Lithium-ion Battery Production Line
• Turnkey Project for Setting up Lithium-Ion Battery from Pilot Plant to Production Line
• Turnkey Project for UN38.3 Lithium ion Battery Safety Testing Lab
• Turnkey Project for Solar Cell Battery and Production line
• Collaboration Partnership

If you are interested to set up Lithium-Ion Battery facility, please send us an email to sales@kgcscientific.com with the following information:

1. What is expected daily production capability (for example: ??AH/day).

2. What is the size of the battery ?

3. What type of the battery?

Scaling Up Lithium-Ion Material & Processing

Equipment From Pilot Plant up to Production Line

MATERIALS

Cathode Materials

LiCoO₂, LiMn₂O₄, and Li(NixMnyCoz)O₂], vanadium oxides, Olivines (such as LiFePO₄), and rechargeable lithium oxides.

Layered oxides containing cobalt and nickel are the most studied materials for lithium-ion batteries. They show a high stability in the high-voltage range but cobalt has limited availability in nature and is toxic, which is a tremendous drawback for mass manufacturing. Manganese offers a low-cost substitution with a high thermal threshold and excellent rate capabilities but limited cycling behaviour.

Therefore, mixtures of cobalt, nickel, and manganese are often used to combine the best properties and minimize the drawbacks. Vanadium oxides have a large capacity and excellent kinetics. However, due to lithium insertion and extraction, the material tends to become amorphous, which limits the cycling behaviour.

Olivines are nontoxic and have a moderate capacity with low fade due to cycling, but their conductivity is low.

Anode Materials

Anodematerials are lithium, graphite, lithium-alloying materials, inter metallics, or silicon.

Lithium seems to be the most straight forward material but shows problems with cycling behaviour and dendritic growth, which creates shortcircuits.

Carbonaceous anodes are the most utilized anodic material due to their low cost and availability. However, the theoretical capacity (372 mAh/g) is poor compared with the charge density of lithium (3,862 mAh/g). Some efforts with novel graphite varieties and carbon nano tubes have tried to increase the capacity but have come with the price of high processing costs.

Alloy anodes and inter metallic compounds have high capacities but also show a dramatic volume change, resulting in poor cycling behaviour. Efforts have been made to overcome the volume change by using nano-crystalline materials and by having the alloy phase (with Al, Bi, Mg, Sb, Sn, Zn, and others) in a non-alloying stabilization matrix (with Co, Cu, Fe, or Ni).

Silicon has an extremely high capacity of 4,199 mAh/g, corresponding with a composition of Si₅Li₂₂. However, cycling behaviour is poor, and capacity fading not yet understood.

Electrolytes

Asafe and long-lasting battery needs a robust electrolyte that can withstand existing voltage and high temperatures and that has a long shelf life while offering a high mobility for lithium ions. Types include liquid, polymer, and solid-state electrolytes. Liquid electrolytes are mostly organic, solvent based electrolytes containing LiBC₄O₈ (LiBOB), LiPF₆, Li[PF₃(C₂F₅)₃], or similar. The most important consideration is their flammability; the best performing solvents have low boiling points and have flash points around 30°C. Therefore, venting or explosion of the cell and subsequently the battery pose a danger. Electrolyte decomposition and highly exothermic side reactions in lithium-ion batteries can create an effect known as “thermal runaway.” Thus, selection of an electrolyte often involves a trade off between flammability and electrochemical performance. 

Separators have built-in thermal shutdown mechanisms, and additional external sophisticated thermal management systems are added to the modules and battery packs. Ionic liquids are under consideration due to their thermal stability but have major drawbacks, such as lithium dissolution out of the anode.

Polymerelectrolytes are ionically conductive polymers. They are often mixed in composites with ceramic Nano-particles, resulting in higher conductivities and resistance to higher voltages. In addition, due to their high viscosity and quasi-solid behavior, polymer electrolytes could inhibit lithium dendrites from growing¹³ and could therefore be used with lithium metal anodes.

Solidelectrolytes are lithium-ion conductive crystals and ceramic glasses. They show a very poor low-temperature performance because the lithium mobility in the solid is greatly reduced at low temperatures. In addition, solid electrolytes need special deposition conditions and temperature treatments to obtain acceptable behavior, making them extremely expensive in use, although they eliminate the need for separators and the risk of thermal runaway.

Separators

The battery separator separates the two electrodes physically from each other, thus avoiding a short circuit. In the case of a liquid electrolyte, the separator is a foam material that is soaked with the electrolyte and holds it in place. It needs to be an electronic insulator while having minimal electrolyte resistance, maximum mechanical stability, and chemical resistance to degradation in the highly electrochemically active environment. In addition, the separator often has a safety feature, called "thermal shutdown;" at elevated temperatures, it melts or closes its pores to shut down the lithium-ion transport without losing its mechanical stability. Separators are either synthesized in sheets and assembled with the electrodes or deposited onto one electrode in situ. Cost wise, the latter is the preferable method but poses some other synthesis, handling, and mechanical problems. Solid-state electrolytes and some polymer electrolytes need no separator.

PROCESSING AND MANUFACTURING

Battery discharge is based on the diffusion of lithium ions from the anode to the cathode through the current collector. This moving mechanism is primarily based on diffusion processes: delivering lithium ions to the surface of the anode, transitioning to and diffusion through the electrolyte, and transitioning to and diffusion into the cathode.

Cylindrical cells are manufactured and assembled as follows. The electrolytes are formed from pastes of active material powders, binders, solvents, and additives and are fed to coating machines to be spread on current collector foils, such as aluminum for the cathode side and copper for the anode side. Subsequent calendaring for homogeneous thickness and particle size is followed by slitting to the correct width. The components are then stacked to separator-anode-separator cathode stacks followed by winding to cylindrical cells, insertion in cylindrical cases, and welding of a conducting tab. The cells are then filled with electrolyte. The electrolyte has to wet the separator, soak in, and wet the electrodes. The wetting and soaking process is the slowest step and therefore is the determining factor in the speed of the line. All other needed insulators, seals, and safety devices are then attached and connected. Then, the cells are charged the first time and tested.

What is the performance of Nickel Cadmium battery?

• Low cost;

• Excellent overcharge endurance;

• Excellent quick charge performance;

• Long cycle life;

• Extensive temperature range;

• Mid-degree self-discharge;

• Good safety performance.

What is the performance of Nickel Metal Hydride battery?

• Low cost;

• Good quick charge performance;

• Long cycle life;

• No memory accumulation;

• Green energy sources, no pollution;

• Extensive temperature range;

• Good safety performance.

What is the performance of Lithium ion battery?

• High energy density;

• High operation voltage;

• No memory accumulation;

• Long cycle life;

• No pollution;

• Light weight;

• Very low self-discharge rate.

What is the performance of Polymer Lithium ion battery?

• No liquid electrolyte, so never leak;

• Can be made into various shape;

• Can be made into thin battery, such as 3.6V, 400mAh, the thickness can decrease to 0.5mm;

• High voltage in an battery: several battery with liquid electrolyte can be connected in series to get a high voltage only; the Li-polymer battery can get high voltage in an cell through multiplayer combination;

• Same volume Li-polymer batteries` capacity is two times of Li-ion battery.

What is the performance of Lithium MnO2 and Li-SOCL2 battery?

• High energy density;

• Long shelf life;

• Wide operating temperature;

• Good sealing feature;

• Steady discharge voltage

Why do batteries packs with zero voltage or low voltage?

(1) One of the cells voltages is 0V;

(2) Plugs are short or open circuit, or ill touched;

(3) Lead wires are broken from the soldering or weakly soldered;

(4) Wrong battery connection or the connection tabs are miss or weak weld or broken off.

Li-Ion/Polymer Single Cells

Li-Ion/Polymer Battery Packs

Hi-Power Li-Po Packs

3.7V/9V Single Cells

From 3.7V - 89V Battery Packs

From 3.7V - 89V Battery Packs

Ultra High Energy Batts

Smart Chargers for Lithium/Polymer Battery Packs

Depending on your production capacity requirement, you may select the following sizes:

KSL-1600XA6 – 150 Liter ; or

KSL-1200X-L – 64 Liter;  or

KSL-1700X-A4-DC – 36 Liter; or

or

Single or Double Zones Tube Furnace

Material Preparation

Electrode Coating Process

Depending on the type of battery:

• Pouch
• 18650 Cylinder / 22650 Cylinder

Depending on the type of battery:

• Pouch
• 18650 Cylinder / 22650 Cylinder
• Coin Cell

Cathode Powders for Li-ion Battery

Anode & Conductive Powders for  Li-ion Battery

Li-ion Battery Binders

Li-ion Battery Binders

Procedure for Preparing Water-based Electrode Slurry (Graphite Anode)

1. Weight Ratio (All other weights depends on how much active powder you will use):

• Anode Active Powder - MCMB: 94.5%
• CMC: 2.25%
• SBR: 2.25%
• Conductive- Super P: 1%
• De-Ionized water: At least 120% of MCMB

2. Heat treat the active powder in the inert gas environment, 300~400C for an hour, *Heat treatment via MTI 500C vacuum ovens is suggested, please click the underline to view product details.*

3. Grind mill the active and conductive power for about 30 minutes. *Grind milling via MTI MSK-SFM series Ball miller is suggested, please click the underline to view product details.*

4. Make liquid thickening agent: heat up de-ionized water to 80C and then slowly add CMC into the water and keep stirring until the CMC is fully dissolved. Usually this process will take >60 minutes.

5. Slowly add SBR and stir for another 60 minutes. You may add some more water if the SBR can not be dully dissolved.

6. Add active and conductive powder into the slurry and stir. It is suggested to separate the powders into 2 or 3 piles, add the first pile and mix for 30 minutes...add the second pile and mix for another 30 minutes...until all the piles are finished. This will help improve the mixing uniformity. *Slurry stirring by MTI MSK-SFM Series Vacuum Mixer is preferred, please click underline to view the recommended instruments*

7. Take sample and test the viscosity. The recommended viscosity for the slurry is between 5000 and 6000 CPS. If the viscosity is above this range, add more de-ionized water; if the viscosity is lower, add more binder (CMC and SBR)

*It is suggested to use MTI MSK-SFM-VT viscosity tester to verify the slurry's viscosity

Battery Material

Equipment Requirements

1. Weight Ratio (All other weights depends on how much active powder you will use):

• Cathode Active Powder - LiFePO4, LiCoO2... : 93.5%
• PVDF: 2.25%
• Conductive Super- C45: 4.0%
• NMP: 8/15 of the solid content by weight

2. Heat treat the active powder in the inert gas or vacuum environment, 120~140C for two hours,

3. Grind mill the active and conductive power for about 30 minutes.

4. Heat up NMP solution to 80C. Slowly add PVDF and keep stirring until the PVDF is fully dissolved. Usually this process will take around 120 minutes.

5. Add active and conductive powder into the slurry and stir. It is suggested to separate the powders into 2 or 3 piles, add the first pile and mix for 30 minutes...add the second pile and mix for another 30 minutes...until all the piles are finished. This will help improve the mixing uniformity.

6. Take sample and test the viscosity. The recommended viscosity for the slurry is around 6000 CPS.