A theoretical study on the effect of particle dispersion on cathode performance in solid-state batteries

FD Cúñez and R Elawadly and J Vazquez and QH Tu, JOURNAL OF ENERGY STORAGE, 136, 118412 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.est.2025.118412

The microstructural composition and disposition of the cathode active material (CAM) and solid electrolyte (SE) particles in composite cathodes can significantly affect the energy density in solid-state batteries (SSBs), since they are the primary determinants in the development of networks of ionic and electronic conductivities. Here, we numerically studied the impact of particle size deviation and particle number ratio of cathode active material (CAM) and solid electrolyte (SE) particles on cathode utilization. It was found that, under realistic log-normal distributions, broader CAM particle sizes promote better SE percolation, and therefore enable higher CAM loadings without compromising cathode utilization. Across all conditions, we find that the cathode utilization is primarily governed by the uniformity of SE particles and the particle number ratio between SE and CAM materials. Specifically, a critical threshold value of 2.9 is required for the particle number ratio in order to achieve up to 92% cathode utilization. These findings highlight that while narrow SE distributions are essential but costly to fabricate, broader CAM distributions-typical of pristine samples-can be leveraged without additional processing, providing a practical framework for designing high-performance, scalable SSB cathodes.

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