Graded lithium-ion battery pouch cells to homogenise current distributions and reduce lithium plating

Spatial distributions in current, temperature, state-of-charge and degradation across the plane of large format lithium-ion battery pouch cells can significantly impact their performance, especially at high C-rates. In this paper, a method to smooth out these spatial distributions by grading the electrode microstructure in-the-plane is proposed. A mathematical model of a large format pouch cell is developed and validated against both temperature and voltage experimental data. An analytical solution for the optimal graded electrode that achieves a uniform current distribution across the pouch cell is then derived. The model predicts that the graded electrodes could significantly reduce the likelihood of lithium plating in large format pouch cells, with grading increasing the C-rate at which plating occurs from 2.4C to 4.3C. These results indicate the potential of designing spatially varying electrode architectures to homogenise the response of large format pouch cells and improve their high rate performance.