Combining electrode structuring and battery pressure management towards fast charging applications of high energy density lithium-ion batteries
November 2025 – October 2029
The project’s goal is to develop, combine and understand two key novel strategies that will enable
the usage of thick lithium-ion battery electrodes. The first strategy involves the structuring of
electrodes by femtosecond laser ablation, giving rise to batteries with increased capacity retention
and decreased lithium plating risks, allowing increased charging rates for thick electrodes (>100
μm). The second strategy involves the pressure management of lithium ion batteries, which leads to
decreased resistances due to improved interparticle contacts. Although each strategy individually will
improve battery performance, by combining them for the first time its effect will be amplified and
issues regarding particle cracking, inhomogeneous lithium distribution and decreased ion mobility
due to compression will be prevented. To gain further insights into the mechanisms of lithiation and
delithiation, a dedicated international research stay focussing on in-situ characterisation by
techniques such as spectroscopy and XRD is planned. The insights from the in-situ characterisation
together with extensive electrochemical testing will allow the expansion of an open-source phasefield
model to make detailed predictions about the lithium plating probability in these electrodes.