Editing Electrode (section)

== Manufacturing ==
The production of electrodes for Li-ion batteries is done in various steps as follows:<ref name="production">{{cite journal|first1=W. Blake|last1=Hawley|first2=Jianlin|last2=Li|title=Electrode manufacturing for lithium-ion batteries—Analysis of current and next generation processing|journal=Journal of Energy Storage|volume=25|year=2019|page=100862|doi=10.1016/j.est.2019.100862|osti=1546514|s2cid=201301519|doi-access=free|bibcode=2019JEnSt..2500862H }}</ref>
# The various constituents of the electrode are mixed into a solvent to produce an 'electrode slurry'. This mixture is designed such that it improves the performance of the electrodes. Common components of this mixture are: 
#* The active electrode particles.
#* A binder used to contain the active electrode particles.
#* A conductive agent used to improve the conductivity of the electrode.
# The electrode slurry above is coated onto a conductor, which acts as the current collector in the electrochemical cell. Typical current collectors are copper for the cathode and aluminum for the anode.
# After the slurry has been applied to the conductor it is dried and then pressed to the required thickness.

=== Structure of the electrode ===
For a given selection of constituents of the electrode, the final efficiency is determined by the internal structure of the electrode. The important factors in the internal structure in determining the performance of the electrode are:<ref name="slurrystructure">{{cite journal|first1=Kumari|last1=Konda|first2=Sahana B.|last2=Moodakare|first3=P. Logesh|last3=Kumar|first4=Manjusha|last4=Battabyal|first5=Jyoti R.|last5=Seth|first6=Vinay A.|last6=Juvekar|first7=Raghavan|last7=Gopalan|title=Comprehensive effort on electrode slurry preparation for better electrochemical performance of LiFePO<sub>4</sub> battery|journal=Journal of Power Sources|year=2020|volume=480|pages=228837|doi=10.1016/j.jpowsour.2020.228837|bibcode=2020JPS...48028837K|s2cid=224980374}}</ref>
* Clustering of the active material and the conductive agent. In order for all the components of the slurry to perform their task, they should all be spread out evenly within the electrode.
* An even distribution of the conductive agent over the active material. This makes sure that the conductivity of the electrode is optimal.
* The adherence of the electrode to the current collectors. The adherence makes sure that the electrode does not dissolve into the electrolyte.
* The density of the active material. A balance should be found between the amount of active material, the conductive agent and the binder. Since the active material is the important factor in the electrode, the slurry should be designed such that the density of the active material is as high as possible, without the conductive agent and the binder not functioning properly.

These properties can be influenced in the production of the electrodes in a number of manners. The most important step in the manufacturing of the electrodes is creating the electrode slurry. As can be seen above, the important properties of the electrode all have to do with the even distribution of the components of the electrode. Therefore, it is very important that the electrode slurry be as homogeneous as possible. Multiple procedures have been developed to improve this mixing stage and current research is still being done.<ref name="slurrystructure" />