The Battery Industry’s Thermal Bottleneck — and Why CIBF 2026 Is the Moment to Solve It
From May 13 to 15, 2026, The 18th China International Battery Fair (CIBF 2026) will transform the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center into the global battery industry’s most consequential gathering. With more than 3,100 exhibitors, 280,000 square meters of exhibition space, and an expected 350,000+ professional visitors, CIBF2026 is the world’s largest and most influential battery technology event.
For manufacturers racing to scale gigafactories while meeting tightening cost and carbon targets, thermal processing remains one of the most stubborn bottlenecks. Conventional hot-air ovens and infrared systems are energy-inefficient, physically bulky, and prone to causing defects such as surface crusting, binder migration, and edge curling. LEMON Photonics will arrive at CIBF 2026 with a clear answer: its QuantaHeat laser heating platform, a semiconductor VCSEL-based photothermal technology that addresses these challenges across all four critical electrode heating stages — moisture removal, baking, primer (undercoat) heating, and coating drying.
From Bulk Heating to Photon-Level Precision
At the heart of the QuantaHeat platform is a high-power Laser (VCSEL) array. Unlike traditional convection-based drying, which heats the entire oven cavity along with the substrate, laser energy is delivered directly to the target layer — the electrode coating, the primer film, or the surface moisture trapped in the porous structure. This directional energy transfer eliminates the low-efficiency “heat-the-air-to-heat-the-material” paradigm and enables process engineers to control thermal input at the millimeter scale.
LEMON Photonics’ proprietary dynamic wavelength modulation technology further enhances this precision. By dynamically tuning the laser wavelength to match the absorption characteristics of specific coatings — whether water-based NMP-free slurries, solvent-based formulations, or solid-state electrolyte precursors — the system achieves photothermal conversion efficiencies far beyond conventional broadband infrared sources.
Moisture Removal: Deep Dewatering Without Surface Damage
Residual moisture in electrode sheets is a direct threat to cell performance, calendar life, and safety. Conventional drying rushes hot air across the surface, creating a crust that traps moisture inside the coating — a phenomenon that often leads to incomplete dewatering or requires prolonged dwell times that slow the entire production line.
QuantaHeat laser drying inverts this dynamic. Photons penetrate the coating and couple energy from the inside out, driving moisture to evaporate uniformly through the layer rather than forcing it through a prematurely dried surface skin. Independent testing on pilot and production lines has demonstrated that moisture content can be lowered to below 300 ppm consistently, with a 3–8× reduction in drying time compared to hot-air convection.
Baking: Stabilizing the Electrode Before It Reaches the Coater
The term “baking” in electrode manufacturing refers to the pre-heating and conditioning of the current collector foil or the freshly coated electrode before it enters downstream processes. Temperature fluctuations during baking cause thermal expansion mismatches between the metal foil and the coating, which can lead to microscopic cracks, curling at the edges, and inconsistent porosity — all of which degrade final cell uniformity and yield.
QuantaHeat’s zone-addressable VCSEL arrays allow process engineers to divide a wide-format electrode web into independently controlled heating zones. Edge zones that tend to lose heat faster can receive higher intensity, while the center receives precisely the dose required to achieve uniform temperature distribution across the full width. The result is a baking step that stabilizes electrode dimensions, eliminates hot spots, and delivers a flat, stress-relieved web entering the coater.
Primer Heating: Building Interlayer Adhesion, Not Thermal Stress
The primer layer — often a carbon- or ceramic-based conductive undercoat applied between the current collector and the active material — plays a critical role in reducing interfacial resistance and improving adhesion. However, primer films are typically thin and thermally sensitive. Over-baking embrittles the layer; under-baking leaves residual solvent that compromises bonding strength.
Lemon Photonics’ laser heating solution treats primer films with unmatched delicacy. Because the VCSEL array can be tuned to match the absorption spectrum of the specific primer chemistry, energy is selectively deposited into the primer itself rather than the metal substrate beneath it. This selective heating cures the primer quickly and uniformly without overheating the foil, maximizing adhesion while minimizing thermal budget. The non-contact nature of laser heating also eliminates the risk of mechanical damage to the thin wet film, a frequent concern with impingement-based hot-air dryers.
Coating Drying: Faster, Cleaner, More Compact
Electrode coating drying is the largest single energy consumer in a battery factory. It also dictates line speed and occupies substantial factory floor space — traditional drying ovens can stretch 30 to 60 meters in length. QuantaHeat laser drying radically compresses this footprint. Field data indicate that the drying section length can be reduced by up to 50% for equivalent throughput, freeing valuable floor space and enabling faster line speeds that directly increase manufacturing capacity.
The technology also improves product quality. The uniform light field — with spatial homogeneity exceeding 95% — means coatings dry evenly from edge to edge, virtually eliminating the binder migration and cracking defects that plague hot-air systems. Multi-zone independent power control allows real-time compensation for coating thickness variations across the web, so even gradient coatings and ultra-thin solid-state electrolyte films can be processed with consistent quality.
Visit LEMON Photonics at CIBF 2026
[Date] 13th -15th May, 2026
[Avenue] Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center
[Booth] Hall 11, Booth 11T035
