Dr. Alexandra Pekarovicova received her MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Slovak Technical University, Bratislava, Slovakia. She is professor at Western Michigan University, Department of Chemical and Paper Engineering, teaching courses in rotogravure, color management, printing inks, and printability analysis. Her research is focused on ink formulations, ink and substrate interactions, rotogravure and flexo printing, and printability. She works in printed electronics and functional inks formulations, and is serving as PhD and MS chair for graduate students. She conducted many short courses for industry, mainly in the field of rotogravure printing, papermaking, and inks formulations. She authored and co-authored over 150 papers, conference proceedings, and eight patents. She served as a vice president of research papers in TAGA, Technical Association of Graphic Arts, and as a TAGA board member for eight years.
Rotogravure Printing of Li Ion Battery Anodes
Kevin Mathew, Alexandra Pekarovicova, and Paul D. Fleming, III, Western Michigan University
Rotogravure inks were formulated for Li-ion battery anodes. Different polymer chemistries were tested such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF ) with degree of polymerization of 1*106. It was found that the best printability can be achieved using mixed PVDF-PVP (polyvinylidene fluoride – polyvinylpyrrolidone) binders with commercial names of PVDF being Kureha 9100, 9300, and Solef 5300. As active materials, Philips 5, 10, 15 graphites (5 -15 micron) in combination with nanocarbon filler were used. Inks were dispersed in NMP (N-methyl-pyrrolidone) solvent. The particle size of graphite for most uniform printing was found to be 5 microns. Surface energy of copper foil substrate and surface tension of inks were determined. Printed copper foils were assembled into battery half cells and their irreversible capacity loss was tested.