Method for Manufacturing Porous Electrode Current Collector Using Hydrogen Bubble Template and Electrode Current Collector Manufactured Thereby

Porous Copper Current Collector for Lithium Metal Batteries Based on Hydrogen Bubble Template Electroplating and Cross-Washing Process

This technology is a method for manufacturing electrode current collectors that forms porous copper thin films by utilizing hydrogen bubbles generated through high overpotential during copper electroplating as a template. It effectively removes residues within the pores through cross-washing with volatile organic solvents and distilled water.

Conventional lithium metal batteries suffer from the growth of lithium dendrites on the current collector. Furthermore, in the manufacturing process of porous electrodes, precursors and byproducts remaining inside the pores have limited initial charge-discharge efficiency.

This technology creates a porous copper structure by applying high current density during electroplating, followed by 9 to 19 cycles of alternating immersion washing with volatile organic solvents, such as ethanol, and distilled water to remove residues from the pores. This improves initial coulombic efficiency and long-term stability. Applicable to next-generation high-energy batteries using lithium metal anodes and anode-free cell current collectors, the large-surface-area 3D structure disperses local current to mitigate dendrite growth.

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Key Features:

• Forming a porous copper thin film by applying overpotential during electroplating in a copper plating solution
• Washing the porous copper thin film with a volatile organic solvent, followed by 9 to 19 repeated washing cycles alternating between distilled water and a volatile organic solvent
• Electroplating metal salt containing at least one copper precursor selected from CuSO4, CuCl2, CuI, Cu(NO3)2, and CuCN
• Electroplating current conditions applied at a current density of 1 A/cm2 to 10 A/cm2 and a charge capacity of 1 mC/cm2 to 100 C/cm2

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