Xerox company, PARC, has unveiled its ‘Co-Extrusion (CoEx) for Cost Reduction of Advanced High-Energy-and-Power Battery Electrode Manufacturing’ project funded by the US DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
In collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Ford, the project will use PARC’s CoEx printing technology to make thick higher energy and higher power battery electrodes with the end goal of enabling longer range and low cost electric vehicles.
The project aim is to demonstrate pilot-scale, electric vehicle (EV) pouch cells with a 20% improvement in gravimetric energy density (Wh/kg), and a 30% reduction in dollar/kWh costs.
CoEx allows fine structures to be printed at high speed, and when applied to thick battery electrodes, it adds a new design dimension that can be used to enhance energy and power performance.
PARC will develop the inks and CoEx hardware required to fabricate a thick high energy and high power CoEx cathode electrodes. ORNL will assist PARC with the matching anode development, anode and CoEx cathode coating at pilot scale and electrochemical performance optimisation in automotive-relevant lithium-ion pouch cells.
The bulk of the research will take place at the DOE Battery Manufacturing R&D Facility (BMF) at ORNL. PARC will design a custom CoEx apparatus that will be integrated into one of the research coating lines at the BMF.

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By GlobalData“The PARC team is excited to start this collaboration with ORNL and Ford,” said PARC project principal investigator and technical lead, Corie Cobb.
“CoEx has the potential to make higher capacity EV batteries possible through the creation of two and three dimensional structures, which can enhance lithium-ion pathways in ultra-thick battery electrodes.
“Our goal is to fabricate EV pouch cells that are higher in energy and power than conventional, with a path towards a reduction in dollar/kWh costs for EVs.”