The important factors in the internal structure in determining the performance of the electrode are:
Clustering of the active material and the conductive agent. In order for all the components of the slurry to perform their task, they should all be spread out evenly within the electrode. An even distribution of the conductive agent over the active material. This makes sure that the conductivity of the electrode is optimal. The adherence of the electrode to the current collectors. The adherence makes sure that the electrode does not dissolve into the electrolyte. The density of the active material. A balance should be found between the amount of active material, the conductive agent and the binder. Since the active material is the important factor in the electrode, the slurry should be designed such that the density of the active material is as high as possible, without the conductive agent and the binder not functioning properly.These properties can be influenced in the production of the electrodes in a number of manners. The most important step in the manufacturing of the electrodes is creating the electrode slurry. As can be seen above, the important properties of the electrode all have to do with the even distribution of the components of the electrode. Therefore, it is very important that the electrode slurry be as homogeneous as possible. Multiple procedures have been developed to improve this mixing stage and current research is still being done. Electrodes in lithium ion batteries
A modern application of electrodes is in Lithium-ion batteries (li-ion batteries).
The cathode consists of lead dioxide (PbO2) and the anode of solid lead. Other commonly used rechargeable batteries are nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride battery, and Lithium-ion batteries. The last of which will be more explained more thoroughly in this article due to its importance. Marcus theory of electron transfer
Marcus theory is a theory originally developed by Nobel laureate Rudolph A. Marcus and explains the rate at which an electron can move from one chemical species to another, for this article this can be seen as jumping from the electrode to a species in the solvent or vice versa. We can represent the problem as calculating the transfer rate for the transfer of an electron from donor to an acceptor 

D + A → D+ + A−
The potential energy of the system is a function of the translational, rotational, and vibrational coordinates of the reacting species and the molecules of the surrounding medium, collectively called the reaction coordinates. The abscissa the figure to the right represents these. From the classical electron transfer theory, the expression of the reaction rate constant (probability of reaction) can be calculated, if a non-adiabatic process and parabolic potential energy are assumed, by finding the point of intersection (Qx). One important thing to note, and was noted by Marcus when he came up with the theory, the electron transfer must abide by the law of conservation of energy and the Frank-Condon principle.