The specific energy of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can be enhanced through various approaches, one of which is increasing the proportion of active materials by thickening the electrodes. However, this typically leads to the battery having lower performance at a high cycling rate, a phenomenon commonly known as rate capacity retention. One solution to this is perforating the electrode, by creating channels or corrugations in the active electrode material, either as holes or as channels. This is known to reduce the rate capacity retention effect, but in order to engineer this better, a simplified transport process analysis needs to be established. In this paper, we propose a classic electrochemical analysis based on voltage–charge cycling measurements in order to obtain a classical mass transport coefficient, $h_m$, that is further used as a main indicator for electrode design quality assessment. We also demonstrate theoretically and experimentally how the mass transfer coefficient, $h_m$, can be determined and how it changes as the electrode layer thickness increases, with and without electrode corrugations.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can considerably improve their lifespan by optimising operating conditions. This may entail ensuring optimal operating temperature, limiting the state-of-charge (SoC) window, reducing cycling current, and changing the physical orientation of the uncompressed LIB cell. In this study, we examine how these four conditions and some of their combinations impact degradation in both 1st life as well as in second life. The cell analysed in this investigation was the Xalt 31 HE cell, an energy-optimised Li-ion pouch cell with a capacity of 31 Ah and an NMC433-graphite chemistry. As a follow-up study of previously reported results, a total of 18 cells were investigated. We report results focusing on improving cycle life and ensuring safety before second life. The optimal conditions for first-life cycling in the full SoC window were found at room temperature, when cycled with a lower current and the cells oriented horizontally. We observed that under the same cycling conditions, a vertical alignment of cells resulted in an increased degradation rate compared to horizontal alignment. The best second-life capacity retention was found for cells initially cycled at room temperature, then later cycled with a reduced SoC window, at a lower current and in a horizontal orientation. If the cells were cycled at an elevated temperature in first life, the second-life compatibility was reduced considerably. An incremental capacity analysis (ICA) of the first-life ageing data revealed a possible indicator for ensuring safety and cycleability into second-life use.