Influence of Separator Material on Infiltration Rate and Wetting Behavior of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

The reduction of process time and costs of lithium‐ion‐battery (LIB) cells to make electromobility an ecological technology and economically accessible for everyone is a very crucial research topic. Within the production process of actual LIB cells, the electrolyte filling and wetting are very time‐consuming, and by association, cost‐intensive steps. Therefore, it is essential to investigate and understand the impact of several process parameters on the wetting time and product quality. This can be achieved by the visualization of the wetting progress and subsequent electrochemical characterization of the LIB cells. The monitoring is realized by wetting balance tests for electrodes and separators as well as a new and powerful thermographic method. In addition, different separators with different surface chemistries are tested to improve the production process, the actual cell design, and therefore the costs of the final battery cell.