The “ProfiStruk” project, carried out from 1 October 2019 to 31 March 2023 at the Technical University of Braunschweig’s Battery LabFactory, was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under grant number 03XP0244B. The project was led by Professor Dr.-Ing. Arno Kwade and aimed to overcome the limited charge capacity and low energy density that currently constrain the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. The research focused on three main strategies: optimisation of active materials, development of novel electrode designs, and establishment of scalable production processes for innovative electrodes. A key objective was the creation of thick, high‑energy‑density coatings that could deliver surface capacities of 6–8 mAh cm⁻² per side while keeping costs low. However, thicker coatings suffer from reduced current‑carrying capability because lithium‑ion diffusion limits the rate at which charge can be transferred. Micro‑structuring the electrode during manufacture was identified as a promising route to improve both current density and cycle life.

To evaluate new structuring concepts, the team first established a laser‑structured reference system, which is a well‑known, albeit slow, ablation technique. The laser‑structured electrodes served as a benchmark for assessing the performance of the novel, inline‑compatible processes that were developed during the project. These processes included gas‑pressure perforation, embossing calendering, and the injection of a passive helper substance into the wet electrode film. The helper material dissolves during drying, leaving behind a controlled pattern of pores or channels that enhance ion transport. In parallel, the researchers investigated dispersed ion‑conducting structures by adding pore‑forming agents to the electrode slurry. The combination of these techniques produced electrodes with lateral diffusion channels that mimic those created by laser perforation but without material loss and at much higher throughput.

The project’s experimental work was organised into eight work packages. Continuous physical and electrochemical characterisation (work package 0) provided the data needed to compare the different structuring methods. Work packages 1–3 focused on producing reference systems, creating dispersed ion‑conducting structures, and benchmarking laser structuring. Work packages 4–6 developed the new inline processes—mechanical perforation, gas‑perforation, and helper‑injection—while work package 7 validated and evaluated the resulting electrodes. The validation phase demonstrated that the new methods could be scaled to industrial production volumes and that they delivered comparable or superior electrochemical performance to the laser reference. In particular, the gas‑perforated and helper‑injected electrodes maintained high capacity at increased electrode thicknesses, confirming that the micro‑structuring effectively mitigated the diffusion limitation.

Overall, the project achieved its goal of developing material‑loss‑minimal, inline‑capable structuring techniques for lithium‑ion electrodes. The new processes are ready for industrial implementation, offering a pathway to produce thicker, higher‑energy‑density electrodes without sacrificing rate capability. The collaboration between the university’s battery research group and the broader German battery research community, including the HighEnergy project (grant 03XP0037A), ensured that the design of the new equipment was informed by state‑of‑the‑art knowledge. The successful completion of the project demonstrates that scalable, high‑throughput structuring can play a decisive role in advancing the performance of traction batteries and accelerating the transition to electric mobility.