German battery materials specialist IBU-tec and research partners including TU Braunschweig have developed an industrial-scale concept for dry coating lithium-ion battery cathodes, outlining a production line capable of delivering 1 gigawatt-hour of annual capacity.
The concept is detailed in a new whitepaper produced under the ProLiT research project, which is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The initiative brings together industrial and academic partners including BMW, Daikin Chemicals, the University of Münster, Maschinenfabrik Gustav Eirich, Coperion K-Tron, Matthews International/Saueressig Engineering and battery maker CustomCells.
Electrodes are among the most cost- and energy-intensive elements in lithium-ion cell manufacturing. Conventional production relies on wet-chemical processes in which active materials, conductive additives and binders are mixed with solvents, coated onto metal foils and then dried in large ovens. According to industry estimates, drying alone accounts for a significant share of both energy consumption and capital expenditure in battery factories.
The ProLiT project focuses on dry coating as an alternative, eliminating solvents entirely. Without drying ovens or solvent recovery systems, the approach promises sharply lower energy demand, reduced CO₂ emissions and simpler factory layouts. Interest in dry electrodes has grown in recent years, notably through Tesla’s plans to apply the method to its 4680 battery cells, although large-scale implementation has proven challenging.
At the core of the ProLiT industrialisation concept is a calender-gap-based dry process that replaces slurry coating with a precisely formulated powder mixture. The binder polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) plays a central role: under controlled shear forces and temperatures, PTFE forms fine fibrils that bind active material particles and conductive additives into a cohesive network. This powder-to-film principle allows the electrode layer to be formed directly in the calender and laminated onto the current collector.
The whitepaper shows that both lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathodes can be produced using this method. For a 1 GWh production line, the authors estimate annual cathode active material demand of roughly 1,300 to 1,800 tonnes, depending on chemistry. Continuous material throughput would range from 160 to 220 kilograms per hour, with calender speeds of about 17 to 21 metres per minute. According to the consortium, such parameters are achievable using commercially available equipment, particularly multi-roll calender systems.
Despite the technical feasibility, the partners highlight several hurdles to industrial deployment. These include achieving uniform binder distribution within the powder, accurately dosing poorly flowing materials, maintaining stable operation across wide electrode widths and long production runs, and the absence of established inline quality measurement techniques for dry-coated electrodes.
IBU-tec said the whitepaper is intended to provide battery manufacturers and equipment suppliers with a realistic blueprint for scaling dry cathode coating in Europe, as policymakers and industry seek to localise battery value chains and reduce the environmental footprint of cell production.