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Motivated by the request to build shape-conformable flexible, wearable and customizable batteries while maximizing the energy storage and electrochemical performances, additive manufacturing (AM) appears as a revolutionary discipline. Battery components such as electrodes, separator, electrolyte, current collectors and casing can be tailored with any shape, allowing the direct incorporation of batteries and all electronics within the final three-dimensional object. AM also paves the way toward the implementation of complex 3D electrode architectures that could enhance significantly the power battery performances. Transitioning from conventional 2D to complex 3D lithium-ion battery (LIB) architectures will increase the electrochemically active surface area, enhance the Li+ diffusion paths, thus leading to improved specific capacity and power performance [1]. Our recent modeling studies [2] involving the simulation of a classical Ragone plot illustrated that a gyroid 3D battery architecture has +158% performance at a high current density of 6C, in comparison to planar geometry. In this presentation, an overview of current trends in energy storage 3D printing will be discussed [3-11]. A summary of our recent works on lithium-ion battery 3D printing via Thermoplastic Material Extrusion / Fused Deposition Modeling will be presented [12-16]. The development of printable composite filaments (Graphite-, LiFePO4-, Li2TP-, PEO/LiTFSI-, SiO2-, Ag/Cu-based) corresponding to each part of a LIB (electrodes, electrolyte, separator, current collectors), and the importance of introducing a plasticizer (polyethylene glycol dimethyl ether average Mn 500 for polylactic acid) as an additive to enhance the printability will be addressed. Printing of the complete LIB in a single step using multi-material printing options, and the implementation of a solvent-free protocol [14] will also be discussed. Second part of this presentation will be dedicated to AM of batteries by means of Vat Photopolymerization (VPP) processes, including stereolithography, digital light processing and two-photon polymerization (offering a greater resolution down to 0.1μm), to print high resolution battery components [10]. Composite resins formulation approaches based on the introduction of solid battery particles or precursor salts will be introduced [17, 18]. Finally, an overview of our ongoing project dedicated to AM of sodium-ion batteries from resources available on the Moon and Mars will be presented. Due to its relative abundance in the Lunar regolith, the development of a composite photocurable resin loaded with TiO2 negative electrode material and conductive additives, to feed a VPP printer, will be discussed [18]. [1] Long et al., Three-dimensional battery architectures, Chemical Reviews 104(10) (2004) 4463-4492. [2] Maurel et al., Considering lithium-ion battery 3D-printing via thermoplastic material extrusion and polymer powder bed fusion, Additive Manufacturing (2020) 101651. [3] Maurel et al., Overview on Lithium-Ion Battery 3D-Printing By Means of Material Extrusion, ECS Transactions 98(13) (2020) 3-21. [4] Ragones et al., Towards smart free form-factor 3D printable batteries, Sustainable Energy & Fuels 2(7) (2018) 1542-1549. [5] Reyes et al., Three-Dimensional Printing of a Complete Lithium Ion Battery with Fused Filament Fabrication, ACS Applied Energy Materials 1(10) (2018) 5268-5279. [6] Yee et al., Hydrogel-Based Additive Manufacturing of Lithium Cobalt Oxide, Advanced Materials Technologies 6(2) (2021). [7] Saccone et al., Understanding and mitigating mechanical degradation in lithium–sulfur batteries: additive manufacturing of Li2S composites and nanomechanical particle compressions, Journal of Materials Research (2021). [8] Tagliaferri et al., Direct ink writing of energy materials, Materials Advances 2(2) (2021) 25. [9] Sun et al., 3D Printing of Interdigitated Li-Ion Microbattery Architectures, Advanced Materials 25(33) (2013) 4539-4543. [10] Maurel et al., Toward High Resolution 3D Printing of Shape-Conformable Batteries via Vat Photopolymerization: Review and Perspective, IEEE Access 9 (2021) 140654-140666. [11] Seol et al., All-Printed In-Plane Supercapacitors by Sequential Additive Manufacturing Process, Acs Applied Energy Materials 3(5) (2020) 4965-4973. [12] Maurel et al., Highly Loaded Graphite-Polylactic Acid Composite-Based Filaments for Lithium-Ion Battery Three-Dimensional Printing, Chemistry of Materials 30(21) (2018) 7484-7493. [13] Maurel et al., Three-Dimensional Printing of a LiFePO4/Graphite Battery Cell via Fused Deposition Modeling, Scientific Reports 9(1) (2019) 18031. [14] Maurel et al., Environmentally Friendly Lithium-Terephthalate/Polylactic Acid Composite Filament Formulation for Lithium-Ion Battery 3D-Printing via Fused Deposition Modeling, ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology 10(3) (2021) 037004. [15] Maurel et al., Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-LiTFSI Solid Polymer Electrolyte Filaments for Fused Deposition Modeling Three-Dimensional Printing, Journal of the Electrochemical Society 167(7) (2020). [16] Maurel et al., Ag-Coated Cu/Polylactic Acid Composite Filament for Lithium and Sodium-Ion Battery Current Collector Three-Dimensional Printing via Thermoplastic Material Extrusion, Frontiers in Energy Research 9(70) (2021). [17] Martinez et al., Additive Manufacturing of LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 battery electrode material via vat photopolymerization precursor approach, (submitted). [18] Maurel et al., Vat Photopolymerization Additive Manufacturing of Sodium-Ion Battery TiO2 Negative Electrodes from Lunar In-Situ Resources, (submitted).

In parallel with the considerable investigations on renewable energy sources, electrical energy storage systems used to store the energy produced now and to provide it when needed have received much attention lately.1 Amongst them, lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are today the most employed in a huge range of purposes including cellphones, laptops or even electric vehicles. Current LIB consists in a planar arrangement (2D) in which the different parts of the battery (positive and negative electrodes, separator, current collectors) are rolled or stacked. Unfortunately, in this type of 2D configuration, lithium ions diffuse only along one dimension. Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, also called 3D-printing processes, could enable the production of much more complex 3D architectures thus allowing diffusion of the lithium cations towards two or three-dimensions. Advantage of those 3D designs is that the electrochemical active surface area is expected to increase as well as the battery specific capacity and power.2 On the other hand, AM could also allow the direct incorporation of LIB within the final object, thus enabling the possibility to maximize the energy storage capabilities while reducing the dead volume and weight. Amongst the various AM available technologies, we focused our work on the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process using a thermoplastic filament as material source for the 3D-printer. In this presentation, the formulation of composite PLA-based filaments specially designed to print each parts of the LIB (with liquid electrolyte) will be described.3,4 The active material composition within the negative and positive electrodes (graphite and lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) respectively), was increased as high as possible in order to enhance the electrochemical performances. Furthermore, the addition of a plasticizer was required to maintain enough mechanical strength while, in the meantime, carbon black was added to confer adequate electrical properties. The impact of ceramic additives on ionic conductivity in the separator was also investigated. From the optimized filaments compositions, stepwise and then “one-shot” 3D-printing of complete LiFePO4/graphite battery cells of any shapes were carried out (Figure 1). In order to prevent short-circuits, classical 3D-printing parameters such as the infill patterns and infill density were investigated for the LIB separator improvement. Finally, this presentation will introduce our latest results5 regarding the printability of a polyethylene oxide/lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (PEO/LiTFSI) filament (2.18 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 90 °C) optimized to be used as solid polymer electrolyte in a lithium-ion battery. This presentation, by combining both battery and 3D-printing understandings, will tackle various electrochemical (thickness, electronic and ionic conductivity, liquid electrolyte uptake) and 3D-printing parameters (infill density, infill pattern, perimeters, over and under-extrusion, retraction), which clearly paves the way for enhanced 3D-printed LIB. References: [1] Tarascon, J. M. & Armand, M. Issues and challenges facing rechargeable lithium batteries. Nature 414, 359-367, doi:10.1038/35104644 (2001). [2] Long, J. W., Dunn, B., Rolison, D. R. & White, H. S. Three-dimensional battery architectures. Chemical Reviews 104, 4463-4492, doi:10.1021/cr020740l (2004). [3] Maurel, A. et al. Highly Loaded Graphite-Polylactic Acid Composite-Based Filaments for Lithium-Ion Battery Three-Dimensional Printing. Chemistry of Materials 30, 7484-7493, doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b02062 (2018). [4] Maurel, A. et al. Three-Dimensional Printing of a LiFePO4/Graphite Battery Cell via Fused Deposition Modeling. Scientific Reports 9, 18031, doi:10.1038/s41598-019-54518-y (2019). [5] Maurel, A. et al. Poly(Ethylene Oxide)−LiTFSI Solid Polymer Electrolyte Filaments for Fused Deposition Modeling Three-Dimensional Printing. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 167, 070536, doi:10.1149/1945-7111/ab7c38 (2020). Figure 1

Actual parallel-plate architecture of lithium-ion batteries consists of lithium-ion diffusion in one dimension between the electrodes. To achieve higher performances in terms of specific capacity and power, configurations enabling lithium-ion diffusion in two or three dimensions is considered. With a view to build these complex three-dimensional (3D) battery architectures avoiding the electrodes interpenetration issues, this work is focused on fused deposition modeling (FDM). In this study, the formulation and characterization of a 3D-printable graphite/polylactic acid (PLA) filament, specially designed to be used as negative electrode in a lithium-ion battery and to feed a conventional commercially available FDM 3D printer, is reported. The graphite active material loading in the produced filament is increased as high as possible to enhance the electrochemical performance, while the addition of various amounts of plasticizers such as propylene carbonate, poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether average Mn ∼ 2000, poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether average Mn ∼ 500, and acetyl tributyl citrate is investigated to provide the necessary flexibility to the filament to be printed. Considering the optimized plasticizer composition, an in-depth study is carried out to identify the electrical and electrochemical impact of carbon black and carbon nanofibers as conductive additives. © 2018 American Chemical Society.

Among the 3D-printing technologies, fused deposition modeling (FDM) represents a promising route to enable direct incorporation of the battery within the final 3D object. Here, the preparation and characterization of lithium iron phosphate/polylactic acid (LFP/PLA) and SiO2/PLA 3D-printable filaments, specifically conceived respectively as positive electrode and separator in a lithium-ion battery is reported. By means of plasticizer addition, the active material loading within the positive electrode is raised as high as possible (up to 52 wt.%) while still providing enough flexibility to the filament to be printed. A thorough analysis is performed to determine the thermal, electrical and electrochemical effect of carbon black as conductive additive in the positive electrode and the electrolyte uptake impact of ceramic additives in the separator. Considering both optimized filaments composition and using our previously reported graphite/PLA filament for the negative electrode, assembled and “printed in one-shot” complete LFP/Graphite battery cells are 3D-printed and characterized. Taking advantage of the new design capabilities conferred by 3D-printing, separator patterns and infill density are discussed with a view to enhance the liquid electrolyte impregnation and avoid short-circuits.

In this paper, the development of an environmentally-friendly lithium-terephtalate/polylactic acid (Li2TP/PLA) composite filament, for its use, once 3D-printed via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), as negative electrode of a lithium-ion battery is reported. Solvent-free formulation of the 3D-printable filament is achieved through the direct introduction of synthesized Li2TP particles and PLA polymer powder within an extruder. Printability is improved through the incorporation of poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether average Mn∼500 (PEGDME500) as plasticizer, while electrical performances are enhanced through the introduction of carbon black (CB). Thermal, electrical, morphological, electrochemical and printability characteristics are discussed thoroughly. By taking advantage of the 3D-printing slicer software capabilities, an innovative route is proposed to improve the liquid electrolyte impregnation within the 3D-printed electrodes.

In this paper, the ability to 3D print lithium-ion batteries through Pmnbspace thermoplastic material extrusion and polymer powder bed fusion is considered. Focused on the formulation of positive electrodes composed of polypropylene, LiFePO4 as active material, and conductive additives, advantages and drawbacks of both additive manufacturing technologies, are thoroughly discussed from the electrochemical, electrical, morphological and mechanical perspectives. Based on these preliminary results, strategies to further optimize the electrochemical performances are proposed. Through a comprehensive modeling study, the enhanced electrochemical suitability at high current densities of various complex three-dimensional lithium-ion battery architectures, in comparison with classical two-dimensional planar design, is highlighted. Finally, the direct printing capability of the complete lithium-ion battery by means of multi-materials printing options processes is examined.

Additive manufacturing technologies open the way to the direct-integration of electronics and solid-state battery within the final 3D object. Here, a 3D printable polyethylene oxide/lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (PEO/LiTFSI) filament (2.18 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 90 °C) optimized to be used as solid polymer electrolyte in a lithium-ion battery is produced to feed a fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D-printer. Due to its relatively poor mechanical properties compared to classical polymer filament such as polylactic acid (PLA), deep modifications of the 3D-printer were implemented in order to facilitate its printability. The solid polymer electrolyte thermal, structural, morphological, mechanical and electrical characterization is reported. Interestingly, using three different electrochemical impedance spectroscopy sample holders (lateral, sandwich and interdigitated-comb), we demonstrate that conductivity values differs for a same sample, highlighting the PEO chains orientation effect on the conductivity measurements.

Actual parallel-plate architecture of lithium-ion batteries consists in lithium ion diffusion in one dimension between the electrodes. To achieve higher performances in terms of specific capacity and power, configurations enabling lithium ion diffusion in two or three dimensions have been considered (1-5). With a view to build these complex 3D battery architectures avoiding the electrodes interpenetration issues, this work was focused on the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). In this presentation, the formulation and characterization of a 3D-printing graphite/polylactic-acid (PLA) filament, specially designed to be used as negative electrode in a lithium-ion battery, and to feed a conventional FDM 3D-printer will be described (6). Graphite loading into the produced filament was increased as high as possible (up to 62.5%wt) to enhance the electrochemical performances while maintaining sufficient mechanical strength to be printed. Formulation process is displayed in Fig. 1a. With such a high ratio of active material, the graphite/PLA filament was found to be very brittle. To overcome this problem, a plasticizer has been added to the PLA matrix to improve its ductility and decrease its stiffness. Influence of the amount of various plasticizers such as propylene carbonate (PC), poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether average Mn~2000 (PEGDME2000), poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether average Mn~500 (PEGDME500) and acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) was investigated by performing both differential scanning calorimetry and tensile mechanical tests. On the other hand, printability behavior of the extruded composite filaments was tested by using a commercially available 3D printer. From the optimized plasticizer composition, two-dimensional discs but also high resolution complex three-dimensional structures, such as a semi-cube lattice and a “3Dbenchy” boat, were successfully 3D-printed. Finally, considering this optimized composite, an in-depth study was carried out to identify the electronic percolation (Fig. 1b) and electrochemical impact of carbon black SuperP and carbon nanofibers as conductive additives; electrical conductivities were determined from impedance measurements performed at various stabilized temperatures ranging from 20ºC to 50°C and, in parallel, capacity retention was investigated in detail at different current densities after the different elaboration steps (film before extrusion and disc after printing). Significant progress has been achieved regarding the capacity retention as compared to Foster et al. (7) who was the first group to use FDM technology to 3D-print a negative electrode disc. They were aware that the low specific capacity values reported (15.8 mAh.g-1 at current density of 10 mA.g-1) were unfortunately caused by the use of a filament containing only 8%wt of graphene as active material and 92%wt of PLA. In this work, by increasing the graphite loading up to 62.5%wt, a reversible capacity of 201 mAh.g- 1 at current density of 4 mA.g-1 was achieved for the 3D-printed negative electrode disc by using the most printable filament (Fig. 1c). References: J. W. Long, B. Dunn, D. R. Rolison and H. S. White, Chemical Reviews, 104, 4463 (2004). S. Ferrari, M. Loveridge, S. D. Beattie, M. Jahn, R. J. Dashwood and R. Bhagat, Journal of Power Sources, 286, 25 (2015). H. S. Min, B. Y. Park, L. Taherabadi, C. L. Wang, Y. Yeh, R. Zaouk, M. J. Madou and B. Dunn, Journal of Power Sources, 178, 795 (2008). L. Taberna, S. Mitra, P. Poizot, P. Simon and J. M. Tarascon, Nature Materials, 5, 567 (2006). K. Sun, T. S. Wei, B. Y. Ahn, J. Y. Seo, S. J. Dillon and J. A. Lewis, Advanced Materials, 25, 4539 (2013). A. Maurel, M. Courty, B. Fleutot, H. Tortajada, K. Prashantha, M. Armand, S. Grugeon, S. Panier and L. Dupont, Advanced Energy Materials, (submitted April 2018). C. W. Foster, M. P. Down, Y. Zhang, X. B. Ji, S. J. Rowley-Neale, G. C. Smith, P. J. Kelly and C. E. Banks, Scientific Reports, 7 (2017). Figure 1