Lithium polyacrylate as a binder for tin–cobalt–carbon negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries

A lithium polyacrylate (Li-PAA) binder has been developed by 3M Company that is useful with electrodes comprising alloy anode materials. This binder was used to prepare electrodes made with Sn30Co30C40 material prepared by mechanical attrition. The electrochemical performance of electrodes using Li-PAA binder was characterized and compared to those using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binders. The Sn30Co30C40 electrodes using Li-PAA and CMC binders show much smaller irreversible capacity than the ones using PVDF binder. Poor capacity retention is observed when PVDF binder is used. By contrast, the electrodes using Li-PAA binder show excellent capacity retention for Sn30Co30C40 materials and a specific capacity of 450 mAh/g is achieved for at least 100 cycles. The results suggest that Li-PAA is a promising binder for electrodes made from large-volume change alloy materials.