An electrode and a related method of manufacture are provided. The electrode includes a self-aligning active material having short fiber powders with a cylindrical morphology to increase the packing density from 0.74 to nearly 0.91. The short fiber powders self-align during a slurring coating process as a result of shear forces between a die and a foil. The resulting coating includes parallel short fibers in a closed packed arrangement, providing an increased volumetric capacity of at least approximately 17%.