I. Introduction
Lithium ion batteries (LIB) with high energy density and compatible for fast charging conditions are in great demand these days to increase the widespread use of LIBs in different applications ranging from miniaturized and portable electronics to electric vehicles (EV) [1]–[5]. The energy density of LIBs can be increased by increasing the applied current rate during charging. However, during high rate of charging, the internal impedance of the electrode leads to ohmic losses and lithium plating on anode surfaces, which limits its capacity density and results in overheating problems [6]. Typically, low ionic transport within the electrolyte phase is the limiting factor for improving cell energy density under fast charging conditions [7]. As a result, development of advanced electrode architectures with different shapes of channels along the thickness of the electrode has gain popularity during recent years [7], [8]. The introduced channels reduce the average through-plane tortuosity of the electrode and enhances the diffusivity of lithium ions [7], [8]. Many fabrication techniques such as co-extrusion [9], [10], mechanical milling [11], [12], and freeze-casting [13], [14] have been employed so far to make structured electrodes. Recently, screen printing has been used as a fast and reliable method for mass production of patterned electrodes with desired thickness that can potentially provide high energy density LIBs [15]–[23]. In this work, a 3D electrochemical model was developed with cells consisting of cylindrical channels to understand the effect of channels on volumetric energy density of a graphite/NMC full cell under 6C charging current density. Even though, the simulation study does not factor the printing process, the experimental data will be collected in the future work using screen printed electrodes with patterned 3D structures/channels and this data will be used in the validation of the simulation results.