Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Integrated Article

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Chemistry

Supervisor

Tsun-Kong Sham

2nd Supervisor

Xueliang Sun

Co-Supervisor

Abstract

With the development of electronics and electric vehicles, high-performance batteries with high energy density, high safety, and aesthetic diversity are greatly needed as dominating power sources. However, the electrodes and electrolytes fabricated with traditional techniques have limited form factors, mechanical flexibility, and poor performance. Extrusion-type 3D printing techniques have thus been applied to fabricate 3D batteries with high performance since 3D printing techniques have great advantages in the fabrication of complex 3D structures and geometric shapes from various materials. The research in this thesis aims at fabricating high-performance Li/Na batteries via 3D printing of advanced electrodes and solid electrolytes.

Summary for Lay Audience

Extrusion-type 3D printing is a technique that extrudes a paste-like ink with shear-thinning behavior through a nozzle to build 3D architectures in a layer-by-layer way. After extrusion, the 3D architectures usually become solidification through the evaporation of solvents, chemical changes (cross-linking) or freeze-drying.

Rechargeable batteries have attracted significant attention due to their high energy density and power density as well as pollution-free operation. However, traditional manufacturing methods are hard to fabricate thick electrodes with fast electron/ion transport due to the planar structure limitations. Moreover, electrodes and electrolytes fabricated by traditional techniques have limited form factors and mechanical flexibility. Extrusion-type 3D printing techniques thus have been applied to design various 3D architectures for achieving high-performance Li/Na batteries.

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