TUBALL single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) stand out among conductive agents for batteries for their exceptional intrinsic properties, being nature’s longest and most flexible material for conductivity and reinforcement of electrodes.
TUBALL™ networks form robust electrode connections, which are essential for the performance of all key battery chemistries.
Nanotube’s unique properties result in different behavior in electrodes. While multi wall carbon nanotubes and carbon black provide only surface connections with short-distance conductivity—resulting in higher electrode bulk resistance and unstable connections—single wall carbon nanotubes create robust, long-distance connections that are stable despite active material volume expansion during long-term cycling.
The ability of single wall carbon nanotubes to connect electrode particles over long distances provides flexibility, as well as mechanical and electrical benefits, to both cathodes and anodes.
As a result, compared to electrodes with multi wall carbon nanotubes, those incorporating single wall carbon nanotubes demonstrate reduced spring-back after calendering, higher flexibility, lower electrode swelling after cycling, and more uniform conductivity.
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Only single wall carbon nanotubes are able to guarantee robust electrical connections between active material particles despite severe silicon-based anode volume expansion during cycling, thus drastically mitigating silicon anode degradation. The more silicon in the anode, the more essential the use of SWCNTs in the design becomes.
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Graphite anodes need to be thin and highly electrically and thermally conductive in order to charge quickly. But thin electrodes reduce the energy density of the battery. TUBALL™ reduces anode swelling after cycling and spring-back after calendering, increasing battery energy density.
TUBALL™ nanotubes work at ultralow concentrations, allowing Li-ion battery makers to maintain overall low dosage of conductive additives in single-crystal NCM, increasing cell energy density.
Robust TUBALL™ networks improve cohesion between electrode particles, increasing the durability and flexibility of the electrodes, allowing battery makers to design L(M)FP cells with record-high active material loadings.
The addition of TUBALL™ SWCNTs enhances the electrical conductivity and structural integrity of high-nickel cathodes. This improvement enables lower battery DCRm, which results in higher safety.
Unique robust TUBALL™ networks provide flexibility, mechanical reinforcement, and exceptional conductivity to battery electrodes regardless of their chemistry. This is why TUBALL™ is an essential part of both today’s and tomorrow’s battery cell chemistries. As an example, in dry battery electrodes, TUBALL™ + PTFE composite unlocks stable, high-conductivity performance, while in semi-solid and solid-state batteries, TUBALL™ enables thick-electrode designs with superior ion–electron balance—delivering higher energy, longer life, and greater efficiency.
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Silicon anodes containing a small amount of SWCNTs (0.5 wt%) show much better stability when operated at a high state of charge, because in this regime they maintain lower impedance and degrade more slowly. The study reveals that carefully choosing the voltage window and lithiation/delithiation depth — together with the presence of SWCNTs in the electrode — can dramatically extend the cycle life of silicon anodes.
They examine how Si–PAA anodes reinforced with a small amount of SWCNTs behave under different voltage windows, focusing on how much the electrode expands and how quickly it degrades. When the silicon is cycled in a milder voltage range—meaning less Si is actually lithiated each cycle—the Si/SWCNT/PAA structure remains far more mechanically stable, leading to over five-fold longer cycle life despite reduced usable capacity.
CNTs mechanically restrain silicon, slow crack growth, and suppress excessive SEI buildup, which dramatically reduces electrode swelling even under high-density, industrial conditions. Because CNTs maintain electrical pathways and prevent particle pulverization far better than carbon black, Si–graphite anodes with CNTs deliver much stronger cycling stability, improved fast-charge performance, and superior low-temperature behavior in full 1 Ah pouch cells.
This paper dissects commercial Si/C composites where sub-nanometer silicon clusters are tightly confined inside a highly microporous carbon matrix, delivering ~2000 mAh g⁻¹ with graphite-like tap density (~1 g cm⁻³) and far less stack swelling than you’d expect from 300% Si expansion. By combining detailed nanostructural analysis (Debye XRD, TEM, BET) with operando stack-pressure measurements in pouch cells, it shows how this confinement suppresses cracking and irreversible stack growth, making high-Si anodes behave like something you could actually commercialize.
SWCNTs keep Si and SiO particles electrically connected as they expand and contract, preventing isolation and early capacity loss. Even tiny amounts of nanotubes strengthen the electrode enough that simple CMC/SBR binders work well, and high-loading Si/graphite composites cycle far more stably. Their mechanical flexibility and long, web-like structure make SWCNTs the key element that stabilizes these high-energy anodes.
SWCNTs act as the electrical “glue” that keeps Si/graphite composite anodes connected even as the silicon repeatedly expands and contracts. In these pouch-cell tests, the nanotubes prevent active-mass loss and keep the anode structurally coherent, so the main failure mode is no longer particle isolation—but steady lithium loss into a continually growing SEI. In other words, SWCNTs successfully stabilize the electrode; the remaining degradation comes from electrolyte-driven SEI growth, not from the anode falling apart.
