Effect of Crosslinking of Guar Gum As a Bio-Derivative Binder for Negative Electrodes of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Nowadays, large-sized lithium-ion batteries (LIB) for electric vehicles (EV) and energy storage systems (ESS) require extraordinary long-cycled, high-powered, and high-capacity, when compared to small-sized LIBs for mobile devices. In addition, it is also necessary to actively respond to environmental problems by applying green materials.

From our previous results, guar gum binders, branched polysaccharides, facilitated the transport of lithium ions in Li₄Ti₅O₁₂(LTO) electrodes than conventional carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) binders, linear polysaccharide, even though their adhesive strength were not as strong as CMC[1]. Unlike polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF), guar gum binder was soluble in water, thus allowing the LIB manufacturing process to be environmentally friendly.

In this study, we investigate the effect of crosslinking of the guar gum binder on their mechanical properties in the LTO electrodes. To evaluate the effect of these crosslinking, a variety of physical and electrochemical characterization are applied.

Reference

1. Bo-Ram Lee, So-Jin Kim and Eun-Suok Oh, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 161, A2128-A2132  (2014)