Microporous shapes and processes for manufacture thereof

Abstract

Additive manufacturing processes allow the development of custom-shape rechargeable batteries. Appearing as one of the key-components of lithium-ion batteries, this work is specifically focused on the manufacturing of highly porous separators with any complex geometry, facilitated by the filament material extrusion 3D printing process. This study discusses the development and optimization of a composite thermoplastic filament feedstock combining polypropylene and paraffin wax, followed by the 3D printing of the biphasic separator membranes. A post-processing step, based on Thermal Induced Phase Separation (TIPS), is introduced to promote the microporosity formation through the removal of the paraffin wax sacrificial material within the 3D printed samples thanks to a solvent. Separators with different polypropylene/paraffin wax ratio are developed and the need for a compromise between printability, mechanical strength, final porosity, and electrochemical performances, is thoroughly discussed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.