2.2. Electrode preparation
The anode was prepared by mixing conductive carbon (C65, Imerys,
Belgium), synthesized silica-carbon composite (SiO2/C)
[23,24], and carboxymethyl cellulose binder (CMC, MTI, USA). After
being mixed in a planetary mixer (Thinky, Japan) at 2000 rpm for 20
minutes, an amount of graphite was added into a mixture and continuously
mixed for the next 20 minutes. Then, SBR binder was incorporated and
mixed for the last 5 minutes. The homogeneous slurry with the
aforementioned ratio was cast on copper foil and then dried in a vacuum
oven at 80 oC for 12 h. The electrode film was finally
punched into a 15 mm diameter round plate. The mass loading of the anode
was around 12 mg.cm-2.
The positive electrode was fabricated by mixing an active material of
LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2(NMC622, MTI, USA), C65, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF, Sigma-Aldrich,
USA) in the weight ratio of 96:2:2, respectively. All powder materials
were dispersed in N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP, Merck) solvent in a
container. After mixing for 20 minutes, the homogeneous slurry was cast
on an aluminum foil and dried in the same condition as the anode. Then,
the cathode film was punched into a round shape (12 mm diameter). The
mass loading of the cathode was around 18 mg.cm-2.