Electrode Formulation and Coating

RISE formulation lab is fully equipped with various high-shear mixers and homogenizers and has all the tools and expertise to characterize slurry formulations fully.

When exploring novel or substituted feedstocks, the overall formulation needs re-engineering. With decades of experience helping various industries with formulation and coating processes, RISE experts and tools can support your research and development with lab-scale validation, e.g., optimize slurry rheology, particle sizing, stability and sedimentation times, and physicochemical analysis. Our experts can support your scaling efforts with multi-scale batch processing or in-line processing equipment.

At RISE, we have facilities for different coating equipment for electrode fabrication, such as comma bar and slot-die coating. We also have equipment for exploring dry and semi-dry electrode coating using extrusion, blending, and dry powder spray methods. Our experts can support you with process development or verification/evaluation of different wet or dry coating methods for your battery production process.

RISE has the facility for the in-depth physicochemical analysis of coated electrodes. Good wettability of battery electrodes and separators is critical to ensure high ion mobility and sufficient adhesion between the different interfaces. RISE is well-equipped in terms of wettability measurements, both when it comes to contact angle measurements, wetting of porous materials using force tensiometry, and static and dynamic surface tension.

The coating adhesion of the electrodes to the current collectors can be determined according to standardized methods using a slip/peel tester apparatus. Overall, RISE is well-equipped when it comes to surface analysis of the interfaces in a battery cell. Chemical information can be gained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Confocal-Raman microscopy, and Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Morphological and structural information can be gained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and profilometry.

With dedicated experts in large-scale research infrastructure (LSRI), RISE can also support you with fully utilizing national research facilities such as Max IV or ESS, specifically for industrial research.

In response to the increasing need to replace chemicals with negative environmental impacts, toxic properties, and upcoming regulatory concerns, RISE has developed an innovative substitution tool offered to our clients called RISE Rapid Substitution Tool. This tool simplifies the complex process of chemical substitution by considering a wide range of databases such as toxicity, hazard data, environmental effects, eye irritation, skin permeation, prices, and even sensory characteristics such as odors. By utilizing this tool, many industries have effectively addressed the need for chemical replacements, ensuring compliance with regulations, reducing environmental impact, and optimizing product formulations.

The HSP program avoids the time-consuming experimental trial-and-error and offers a quick approach by in silico screening a vast number of potential alternative materials. Using the tool enables the identification of highly relevant alternatives, reducing the number of required trials and lowering the overall cost of the substitution process. Thus, one can focus on materials more likely to exhibit favorable solubility and compatibility profiles, accelerating the material discovery process and enhancing efficiency. Using this approach, one can substitute common solvents used in batteries like NMP (N-methyl, 2-pyrrolidone) as well as binders like (PVdF) polyvinylidene-di-fluoride.