The accelerated electrification of vehicles boosts the demand for sustainable batteries with enhanced energy density. Lithium metal anodes are expected to be a key component for future generation energy storage such as solid state and Lithium sulfur batteries. Energy consumption needs to be further reduced in cell production and substituting the wet electrode processing will be a major step in this direction. As a consequence, innovations in production technologies are required for the manufacturing of future generation batteries.
Here, we present new concepts for manufacturing of Lithium metal batteries, including coating, cutting and contacting of Lithium anodes as well as dry film processing of composite cathodes. A unique melt deposition process is applied for achieving few micrometer thin Lithium metal films on current collector foils. Further, a laser-based cutting process enables the flexible shaping of Lithium foils and coatings with high edge quality. For direct contacting of Lithium anodes to tabs a low contact resistance and high mechanical strength is achieved via Laser beam joining. Composite cathodes based on various active materials are being produced via the solvent free process DRYtraec®. All process steps are implemented in a semi-automated cell assembly line at Fraunhofer IWS for manufacturing and evaluating Lithium metal battery cells. Thus, the developed technology concepts are being demonstrated in high energy battery cell prototypes exceeding a specific energy of 400 Wh/kg.