A Perspective on Innovative Drying Methods for Energy‐Efficient Solvent‐Based Production of Lithium‐Ion Battery Electrodes

Abstract

An increasing number of production plants for lithium‐ion batteries (LIB) are being built every year to meet the global battery demand for battery electric vehicles, mobile devices, and stationary energy storage systems. Currently, the state‐of‐the‐art convective drying process employed during solvent‐based electrode production is a key reason for the high electrical energy consumption of the LIB production process and also requires long dryer sections with huge investment costs. The need for energy, CO 2 footprint, and cost reductions in LIB production has sparked interest in developing innovative electrode drying technologies that improve the drying rate and introduce the heat more efficiently into the coating. Herein, a perspective of possible drying technologies, which are used in other industries and can be adapted for LIB electrode production, is given. Furthermore, a combination of convective and inductive drying technologies for simultaneous double‐sided coating is proposed. The complementary heat introduction pathways may offer an advantageous approach to meet the demand for rapid and high‐efficiency electrode drying.