Lithium-ion batteries have been popular powering mobile electronics and electric vehicles owing to its high energy density and good electrochemical performance. However, thermal transport performance, especially in cross-plane direction, is not on a par with electrochemical ones. Poor thermal transport may result in overheating and even thermal runaway while there’s still a lack of methods studying battery electrode thermal conductivity under working condition¹. Previous efforts provide measurement on either dry battery electrodes or reassembled electrodes with electrolyte but not being able to charge and discharge^{2, 3}. Current study demonstrates a new method measuring thermal conductivity of a working battery cell through flash diffusivity technique. By minimizing contact resistance between electrode sample and holder, the work can contribute to comprehensive study of a working battery cell for better thermal performance.

1. V. Vishwakarma, C. Waghela, Z. Wei, R. Prasher, S. C. Nagpure, J. Li, F. Liu, C. Daniel, and A. Jain, Journal of Power Sources, 300 123-131 (2015).

2. H. Maleki, S. A. Hallaj, J. R. Selman, R. B. Dinwiddie, and H. Wang, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 146 (3), 947-954 (1999).

3. S. C. Nagpure, R. Dinwiddie, S. S. Babu, G. Rizzoni, B. Bhushan, and T. Frech, Journal of Power Sources, 195 (3), 872-876 (2010).