Not all fugitives are bad: The case for using them to form low tortuosity - high porosity electrodes

Veith, Gabriel M.; Boeding, Ethan D.; Korkosz, Rachel J.; Araño, Khryslyn G.; Ha, Yeyoung; Kumara, Chanaka; Duggan, Cailin; Musgrove, Amanda L.; Ward, Thomas Zac; Sacci, Robert L.; Armstrong, Beth L.

doi:10.1016/j.nxener.2026.100512

Title: Not all fugitives are bad: The case for using them to form low tortuosity - high porosity electrodes

Journal Article · Tue Jan 20 00:00:00 UTC 2026 · Next Energy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nxener.2026.100512 · OSTI ID:3017025

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States)

This work focuses on the inclusion of an insoluble fugitive phase during slurry processing to form composite battery electrodes. The fugitive phases consist of natural derived products like alginic acid, sucrose, rice and potato starch, and carrageenans such as Irish Moss and synthetic pore-formers based on polymethyl methacrylate. The fugitive phases can be anaerobically thermally removed (350 °C) during binder crosslinking and electrode drying steps, resulting in electrodes with low tortuosities (approaching theoretical Bruggemann limits for spherical particles) and high porosities approaching 80%. The resulting ∼3 mg/cm² loaded electrodes suffer from poor electrical connectivity, lowering the effective material utilization, but represent an approach that could be utilized for the formation of solid-state batteries with infilling of materials into well-defined pores and optimized transport pathways.

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Research Organization:: National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 3017025

Report Number(s):: NLR/JA--5K00-99152; NLR/JA-5K00-99152

Journal Information:: Next Energy, Journal Name: Next Energy Vol. 11; ISSN 2949-821X

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Not all fugitives are bad: The case for using them to form low tortuosity - high porosity electrodes

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