Accelerating rate calorimetry studies of the effect of binder type on the thermal stability of a lithiated mesocarbon microbead material in electrolyte

An Accelerating Rate Calorimeter (ARC) is used to measure the thermal behav iour of lithiated MCMB (mesocarbon microbead) electrodes, made with differe nt binder, in electrolyte. Electrodes using PVDF, (VdF:HFP) or (VdF:CTFE) c opolymer and ethylenepropylene-diene (EPD) terpolymer binders were studied. The safety results for the Vdf-based binder electrodes are almost identica l, within error, suggesting that the safety of Li-ion cells is not compromi sed or improved by changes to the binder within this group. On the other ha nd, the electrodes made with EPD binder, that is not plasticized by the ele ctrolyte, appear to have the lowest self-heating rates. (C) 1999 Elsevier S cience S.A. All rights reserved.