On February 1st local time, Elon Musk stated on social media, "Achieving mass production of dry electrode technology is a major breakthrough in lithium-ion battery manufacturing technology, and it's extremely difficult."
Just recently, Tesla published a patent titled "Composition and Preparation Method of Dry Electrode Film with Low Binder Content." By first mixing active materials and conductive carbon, and then adding a dry binder in a specific order, it avoids damage to particles caused by high shear forces. The patent stipulates that the conductive carbon content should not exceed 8% by weight, and the binder content should be less than 2%.
Dry electrode technology, also known as dry process technology... Dry processing is a type of front-end fabrication method for solid-state batteries. Traditional lithium-ion battery electrode production primarily employs a wet process: electrode/electrolyte materials are mixed with a binder to form a slurry, which is then coated and dried to form a film. Dry processing, on the other hand, eliminates the use of solvents and the drying step, relying instead on high-shear dry mixing and fiberization equipment to achieve uniform material dispersion and pre-forming, and directly completing the film formation process through multi-roll compaction.
From an industry-wide perspective, wet processing remains the primary choice for solid-state battery production lines, while dry processing, with its comprehensive advantages in cost, process, and material compatibility, is gradually becoming the mainstream direction for next-generation solid-state battery front-end processes.
