Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

A styrene butadiene rubber (SBR)-polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) based binder system has been developed for an electrochemical system that is not compatible with the conventional N-methyl pyrrolidinone (NMP) solvent used to cast most Li-ion electrode slurries. This polymer system's binding properties decouple the mechanical and ionic-transport properties. It demonstrates comparable mechanical properties to SBR-based electrodes and cell performance to traditional PVDF-based electrodes. This new binder design however enables the incorporation of stabilized lithium metal powder (SLMP) into a graphite anode to improve its first cycle coulombic efficiency. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2013.