Researchers in Japan have used the Sysmex FPIA-3000 flow particle image analyser from Malvern to study the influence of particle shape on the characteristics of coating film for battery electrodes.
This work, undertaken by researchers at Hokkaido University, has been described in a new application note on the Malvern Instruments website.
The researchers used the analyser to look at the size and shape of graphite particles in coating films produced by different methods.
They concluded that examining particle shape as well as size enables a better understanding of the packing structure of the final coating film and hence its permeability and recharging-discharging characteristics.
The raw carbon material used to produce these coatings is usually in the form of flakes, which are then processed (conglobulated) into more spherical particles.
A number of coating films were produced using particles of different shapes as determined with the Sysmex FPIA-3000 and their packing structure was assessed by electron microscopy.
The subsequent examination of permeability characteristics demonstrated that the more spherical material permits better fluid permeation and consequently helps improve the high-rate discharging performance of a secondary battery.
The Sysmex FPIA-3000 is an automated instrument that is suitable for analysing fine particles, capturing images of hundreds of thousands of particles as they pass in front of a camera.
Results in terms of individual particle size and shape, and associated distributions, are produced.
Size/shape correlation is said to be straightforward.
Coating films and porous material obtained from fine particles, the size of a few microns, are used in many different industrial processes such as for electromagnetic materials, drugs and pharmaceutical tablets as well as in ceramics.
