Ionically permeable structures for energy storage devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10020514-B2
Application number	US-201615157634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2016
Priority date	Jan 24, 2012
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

An electrochemical stack comprising carrier ions, an anode comprising an anode active material layer, a cathode comprising a cathode active material layer, a separator between the anode and the cathode comprising a porous dielectric material and a non-aqueous electrolyte, and an ionically permeable conductor layer located between the separator and an electrode active material layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrochemical stack comprising carrier ions, an anode comprising an anode active material layer, a cathode comprising a cathode active material layer, a separator between the anode and the cathode comprising a porous dielectric material and a non-aqueous electrolyte, and a current collector having an ionically permeable conductor layer located between the separator and an electrode active material layer, the electrode active material being the anode active material layer or the cathode active material layer wherein upon application of a current to store energy in the electrochemical stack or an applied load to discharge the electrochemical stack: (i) the carrier ions travel between the anode and cathode active material layers and through the ionically permeable conductor layer and separator as they travel between the anode active and cathode active material layers, (ii) the anode active material layer, the cathode active material layer, and the ionically permeable conductor layer each have an electrical conductance, (iii) the anode active material layer, the cathode active material layer, the ionically permeable conductor layer and the separator each have an ionic conductance for the carrier ions, (iv) the ratio of the ionic conductance of the ionically permeable conductor layer to the ionic conductance of the separator is at least 0.5:1, (v) the ratio of the electrical conductance of the ionically permeable conductor layer to the electrical conductance of the electrode active material layer is at least 100:1, and (vi) the ratio of the electrical conductance to the ionic conductance of the ionically permeable conductor layer is at least 1,000:1,
wherein the anode has a top surface and a lateral surface, a first portion of the current collector covers the top surface of the anode, a second portion of the current collector covers the lateral surface of the anode, and the thickness of the first portion is greater than the thickness of the second portion of the current collector.

2. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer is between the separator and the anode active material layer.

3. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer is between the separator and the cathode active material layer.

4. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the electrochemical stack comprises two ionically permeable conductor layers, one of the ionically permeable conductor layers is between the separator and the anode, and the other of the ionically permeable conductor layers is between the separator and the cathode.

5. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the anode comprises an anode current collector, the cathode comprises a cathode current collector, and the anode current collector comprises the ionically permeable conductor layer.

6. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the anode comprises an anode current collector, the cathode comprises a cathode current collector, and the cathode current collector comprises the ionically permeable conductor layer.

7. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the anode comprises an anode current collector, the cathode comprises a cathode current collector, and the electrochemical stack comprises two ionically permeable conductor layers, one of the ionically permeable conductor layers being between the separator and the anode active material and corresponding to the anode current collector and the other of the ionically permeable conductor layers being between the separator and the cathode active material and corresponding to the cathode current collector.

8. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer comprises a porous material and the non-aqueous electrolyte, and the porous material is selected from the group consisting of porous metals and porous metal alloys.

9. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer comprises a mesh or conductive lines, the mesh or conductive lines comprising a metal or alloy thereof.

10. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer comprises a solid ion conductor.

11. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer porous copper, porous nickel, a porous alloy of copper or nickel, or a combination thereof having a void fraction in the range of about 0.25 to about 0.85 and a thickness in the range of about 300 Angstroms to about 3 micrometers.

12. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the anodically active material layer comprises silicon or an alloy thereof.

13. The electrochemical stack of claim 12 wherein the silicon is microstructured silicon having a void volume fraction of about 0.15 to about 0.75.

14. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the first portion is 200% to 1,000% of the thickness of the second portion.

15. A secondary battery comprising the electrochemical stack of claim 1 .

16. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer has a thickness in the range of about 0.1 to about 5 micrometers.

17. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer has a thickness in the range of about 0.5 to about 3 micrometers.

18. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer has a thickness non-uniformity of less than about 25% wherein thickness non-uniformity is defined as the quantity of the maximum thickness of the layer minus the minimum thickness of the layer, divided by the average layer thickness.

19. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer has a thickness non-uniformity of less than about 10% wherein thickness non-uniformity is defined as the quantity of the maximum thickness of the layer minus the minimum thickness of the layer, divided by the average layer thickness.

20. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer has a void volume fraction of at least about 0.25.

21. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the ionically permeable conductor layer has a void volume fraction of about 0.35 to about 0.65.

22. The electrochemical stack of claim 1 wherein the electrolyte comprises carrier ions, the ionically permeable conductor layer and the separator layer each have an ionic conductance for the carrier ions, and the ratio of the ionic conductance of the ionically permeable conductor layer to the ionic conductance of the separator layer for the carrier ions is at least 1.25:1, respectively, upon application of a current to store energy in the device or an applied load to discharge the device.

23. The electrochemical stack of claim 22 wherein the electrode active material layer is the anode active material layer, the anode active material layer and the ionically permeable conductor layer each have an electrical conductance upon application of a current to store energy in the device or an applied load to discharge the device, and the ratio of the electrical conductance of the ionically permeable conductor layer to the electrical conductance of anodically active material layer is at least 1,000:1.

24. The electrochemical stack of claim 22 wherein the electrode active material layer is the anode active material layer, the anode active material layer and the ionically permeable co

Assignees

• Enovix Corp

Inventors

• Ramasubramanian Murali
• Spotnitz Robert M
• Shah Nirav S
• Lahiri Ashok
• Castledine Christopher G
• Wilcox James D
• Armstrong Michael J
• Cole Robert A
• Brusca Brian E
• Rust Iii Harrold J
• Matsubayashi Ken S
• Lauchlan Laurie J
• Koblmiller Gunther A

Classifications

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title

• H01M2010/4292

  Aspects relating to capacity ratio of electrodes/electrolyte or anode/cathode · CPC title

• H01M4/139

  Processes of manufacture · CPC title

• H01M10/058

  Construction or manufacture · CPC title

• H01M4/1391

  of electrodes based on mixed oxides or hydroxides, or on mixtures of oxides or hydroxides, e.g. LiCoOx · CPC title