Product May. 26, 2022

HIOKI to Launch Subscription Service in June 2022 providing software analysis to estimate mixture conditions in LIB electrode slurries

Hioki is pleased to announce a subscription- and cloud-based service for software analysis to estimate electrode slurry* mixture conditions based on electrical impedance measurement values. The new service, which will be available starting in June, is designed to support development of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which are becoming increasingly advanced.
*A slurry is a paste-like mixture.

Development background

As the world continues to move away from carbon dependence and to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), the functional and performance requirements that LIBs must fulfill will only grow more demanding. A typical electrode slurry used in the positive electrode of an LIB (with battery fluid) contains, for example, an active material, conductive auxiliary material, and binder, which are dispersed in a solvent (NMP). The state of the slurry varies greatly depending on the composition of materials used and on the mixing method. If the ingredients are not well dispersed, the slurry’s constituent substances will fail to perform as intended, causing the battery’s capacity to decline and its internal resistance to increase.
While it is possible to determine the electrical (impedance) characteristics of a slurry, it is extremely difficult to ascertain the internal state (mixture conditions) of highly complex slurries that consist of multiple materials. Hioki developed analytical software that can estimate electricity flow (conductive networks) in a slurry by generating three market-leading indicators from impedance values measured in the slurry state. Hioki will make this software available on a subscription basis starting in June.

Four Quadrants of Slurry

Service features

1. The customer will measure the slurry’s impedance.

- To do so, the customer will fill the measurement jig (Electrode Cell SA9001) with slurry and perform impedance measurement.
- Each sample can be measured in about 1 minute if using the measuring instrument environment recommended by Hioki.

2. The customer will log in to the analytical software, input the impedance data and information about the slurry material, then receive the analytical values.

- The system uses an optimized algorithm to perform analysis based on the combination of materials in the slurry.
- An unlimited number of samples can be analyzed while the license is valid.

Shipping Start Date

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

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