Korean Researchers Develop Dry Cathode Technology for Higher-Capacity Batteries
A KRICT research team says a small amount of graphitic carbon nitride can improve lithium-ion movement in thick dry electrodes, potentially raising battery capacity and power without adding size or weight.
A South Korean research team has developed a dry cathode technology designed to help lithium-ion batteries store more energy without becoming larger or heavier, according to the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology.
The team, led by senior researchers Moon San and Suk Jung-don, used graphitic carbon nitride as an additive in a thick dry cathode. KRICT said this is the first reported use of the material for that purpose. The study appeared as the cover article of the international journal Exploration in August, with post-master’s researcher Eun Hye-ji serving as first author.
Thicker electrodes can increase battery energy density because they contain more active material in the same surface area. That advantage comes with a technical obstacle: lithium ions have farther to travel and can move less efficiently through a thick electrode, preventing the cell from fully using its stored energy.
The researchers sought to ease that bottleneck with porous graphitic carbon nitride. Nitrogen on the additive’s surface temporarily binds to lithium ions, helping them enter the cathode material. Its porous structure also allows the electrolyte to penetrate the electrode more evenly.
In the team’s tests, the additive reduced the activation energy required for lithium-ion movement by 56 percent, from 49.8 kilojoules per mole to 22.1 kilojoules per mole. An electrode containing 0.5 percent of the additive delivered a 166 percent capacity increase during high-rate discharge, while power density rose by as much as 2.85 times.
Moon said the researchers improved ion transport with only a small amount of the additive while optimizing where it was placed and how the electrode was structured. The limited quantity is potentially important for manufacturing because excessive inactive material can reduce the amount of energy-storing material inside a cell.
The work also fits into wider efforts to commercialize dry-electrode production. Unlike conventional wet processes, dry methods can reduce reliance on solvents and may simplify parts of battery manufacturing. The new study focuses specifically on the ion-transport problem that emerges when manufacturers make dry electrodes thicker to pursue greater energy density.
KRICT President Shin Seok-min said the approach could eventually be useful in electric vehicles, energy storage systems and robotics because the additive process is simple and potentially cost-effective.
The reported results remain a research-stage advance rather than evidence of a market-ready battery. KRICT said the process still needs to be demonstrated in large-scale cells and its production yield must be verified. Those steps will determine whether the laboratory performance can be maintained under industrial manufacturing conditions.