Volume 11 Issue 3 ( September 2024)

The quality of lithium-ion batteries is significantly impacted by the cathode. Besides their advantages in capacity and cycle life, NMC cathode has low electronic conductivity, which can affect electron transfer. To improve conductivity, the cathode material can be added with conductive additives. Commonly utilized as a conductive additive in the cathode of lithium-ion batteries is acetylene black. On the other hand, graphene offers superior properties, such as its large active surface area and conductivity. This research was conducted to compare AB, graphene, and their combinations as conductive additives for NMC cathode. The test results show that the combination of AB and graphene with a ratio of 1:1 produces the highest specific capacity, which is 161.32 mAh/g. The rate performance result produced by this combination is very good, with 91.38% and 80.07% capacity retention for discharging and charging rate performance, respectively, at 3C current. For the life cycle test after 50 cycles, the combination of AB and graphene with a ratio of 1:1 resulted in a capacity retention of 93.26%, which was higher than a battery that only uses AB or graphene as a conductive material at the cathode. Therefore, the combination of graphene and AB as conductive materials in lithium-ion batteries can produce batteries with good performance.

Keywords: acetylene black; cathode; conductive; graphene; lithium-ion battery