Enhanced Cycling Performance of Electrospun Nickel Cobalt Manganese Oxide [LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂(NCM811)] Cathode for Lithium‐Ion Batteries
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The cathode of a lithium-ion battery (LIB) is made from a slurry of cathode active materials, conductive additives, and binder mixtures, which is blade-coated to fabricate the cathode electrode. The blade coating is a wet coating technology, which requires a heat treatment process after casting to volatilize the solvent. In addition, due to the dense surface, the reaction occurs mainly on the surface during the charge and discharge cycle, which accelerates degradation. To address these problems, this study introduces electrospun coatings during slurry casting. Electrospinning (ES) is a fast, easy, and low-cost process that is not limited by external conditions and is typically used to produce nanofibers. However, if the polymer solution concentration is extremely low, a porous film can be formed by electrospraying. Porous films tend to degrade more slowly because the reaction occurs across the entire electrode. In addition, ES does not require a drying process as the solvent is volatilized during the process. While the blade coating shows 47.13% retention after 100 cycles at 1C, ES shows an improved retention of 75.98%. The application of ES to LIB results in a significant improvement in cycle performance, which can be developed into a breakthrough technology in electrode fabrication.​