Preparing printed electrodes for testing in the PAT-Cell

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PAT-Cells can now also be used for electrodes printed on non-conductive materials such as PET or paper.

The general challenge of making printed electrodes usable for installation in the PAT-Core is to establish electrical contact. Normally, these electrodes are only provided with an electrically conductive coating on the front side. To use it in the PAT-Core however, we need to contact it via the back side, so customized PAT-Core components are required to achieve exactly this.

In the following we will show the necessary steps for the use in the PAT-Core as well as two application examples with aqueous and gel electrolytes.

Step 1: Punching out the printed electrodes with the EL-Cut

First the electrodes are punched out as usual using our proven EL-Cut punching pliers in combination with a ECC-StopRail. However, in this case we use an EL-Cut with an specially adapted cutting tool, that adds two protuberances to the outer contour of the electrode.

Step 2: Preparing the electrodes for installation in the PAT-Core

The next step is to establish the electrical conductivity of the electrode. A metallic current collector foil is attached to the electrode, which conducts the current from the front to the back using lugs.

As a result, the printed electrode can now be used in the PAT core as usual.

Example setup with aqueous electrolyte and separator:

Example setup with gel electrolyte:

Another interesting scenario is the testing of printed electrodes in combination with a gel electrolyte. For this variant we use adapted designs for the plunger and insulation sleeve made of PEEK.

The lower electrode is placed directly on the lower stick ring of the sleeve. Since a diameter of 21.4 mm is therefore required, we use a second EL-Cut with larger cutting tool. The recess in the cutting unit allows easy punching without damaging the gel layer. The upper electrode is punched with 18 mm as in the first example.