Argonne Lab's EV battery breakthrough to cut energy use by half

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Case Western Reserve University, have reviewed advanced battery electrode manufacturing techniques that could cut energy use by more than half and reduce factory footprints. The study highlights dry processing as the most promising near-term technology, as it eliminates the need for the solvent N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) used in conventional wet electrode processing. Wet processing involves mixing active materials with solvents to form a slurry that is coated and dried in energy-intensive ovens, with additional costs and complexity from safely recovering NMP. Dry processing compresses mixed powders directly into electrode films, potentially reducing manufacturing costs by 11% and energy use by 46%, though further research on binder stability is needed. Other emerging alternatives include advanced wet processing, which replaces NMP with water to cut energy costs by 25% but still requires drying ovens, and radiation curing, which rapidly solidifies slurries using light or electron