Open AccessQuantifying the Effect of Separator Thickness on Rate Performance in Lithium-Ion Batteries
Author(s) -
Dominik Horváth,
Ruiyuan Tian,
Cian Gabbett,
Valeria Nicolosi,
Jonathan N. Coleman
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of the electrochemical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 271
eISSN - 1945-7111
pISSN - 0013-4651
DOI - 10.1149/1945-7111/ac5654
Subject(s) - separator (oil production) , electrolyte , limiting , ion , materials science , electrode , composite material , chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , mechanics , nuclear engineering , thermodynamics , chromatography , mechanical engineering , engineering , physics , organic chemistry
In addition to improving parameters such as energy density and stability, it is important to maximise rate performance in lithium-ion batteries. While much work has focused on rate-limiting factors associated with the electrodes, much less attention has been paid to the effect of the separator on rate-performance. Here we perform a quantitative study on the effect of separator thickness on the rate-performance of a model system of NMC-based half cells. By fitting experimental capacity vs rate curves, we measured the characteristic time associated with charge/discharge as a function of separator thickness, finding a roughly linear increase for separator thicknesses below ∼65 μ m. This behaviour is consistent with a simple physical model which shows the separator thickness dependence to be dominated by electrolyte resistance effects. The predictions of the model match the data extremely well with no adjustable parameters.