Aqueous and organic inks of carbon xerogels as models for studying the role of porosity in lithium-ion battery electrodes

The electrochemical performances of lithium-ion batteries depend to a great extent on the method used to prepare the electrodes and on the pore texture of the active material. In the present study, carbon xerogels with different pore sizes and pore volumes were synthesized by means of microwave heating. These carbonaceous materials were used to prepare lithium-ion battery anodes. Generally, electrodes are prepared by coating a slurry made of an active material, a binder and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone as organic solvent. The disadvantage of this solvent is that it is both toxic and costly. In this work, the use of water instead of the organic solvent and water-soluble binders yielded electrodes with similar electrochemical performances making the battery assembly process more economic and environmentally friendly. The results of this study also confirm that the use of an aqueous preparation pathway does not undermine the interdependence between the electrochemical properties of the cells and the porous properties of the carbon xerogels.Financial support from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (MINECO) under Projects MAT2011-23733, IPT-2012-0689-420000 and CTQ2013 49433-EXP is greatly acknowledged. N.R.R is also grateful to MINECO for her predoctoral research grant. M.-L. P. thanks the F.R.S.-FNRS for a FRIA fellowship grant. A. L. acknowledges the financial support received from the Région Wallonne (BATWAL Convention 1318146, PE Plan Marshall 2.vert). The Belgian authors also thank the University of Liège (Fonds Spéciaux pour la Recherche FSR C13/09) and the Fonds de Bay for their financial support.Peer reviewe