Fabrication of AlSi10Mg Lattice Structure As Battery Electrodes via Laser Powder Bed Fusion Process

Abstract Enhancing the overall electrochemical performance of batteries, including capacity, lifetime, safety, and power density, relies much on battery manufacturing methods and assembling electrodes, electrolytes, and packaging components. Among the seven sub-categories of Additive Manufacturing (AM), laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) emerges as a compelling choice for manufacturing metal-based structural battery electrodes. This study presents the fabrication of a highly porous metallic face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice structure through the L-PBF process, intended as a core framework for the development of structural batteries. AlSi10Mg powder was chosen as the raw material for L-PBF fabrication. The material characterization of the fabricated samples was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). Zinc oxide (ZnO) was selected as a battery material due to its outstanding electrochemical properties and simple processing, and lithium chloride (LiCl) was selected as the electrolyte. The electrochemical performance of the developed battery electrodes was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) tests. The L-PBF fabricated ZnO electrodes exhibited an impressive specific capacity of 176.63 mAhg−1 and a maximum energy density of 47.97 Wh kg−1 at a current density of 1.38 mA g−1. Consequently, it is evident that the engineered battery structures possess considerable promise for the future advancement of electronic devices.