Method of producing alkali metal or alkali-ion batteries having high volumetric and gravimetric energy densities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10026995-B2
Application number	US-201614998514-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2016
Priority date	Jan 15, 2016
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

A process for producing an alkali metal battery, comprising: (a) preparing multiple conductive porous layers (having at least 80% by volume of pores), multiple wet anode layers of an anode active material mixed with a liquid electrolyte, and multiple wet cathode layers of a cathode active material mixed with a liquid electrolyte; (b) stacking and consolidating a desired number of the porous layers and a desired number of wet anode layers to form an anode electrode; (c) placing a porous separator layer in contact with the anode electrode; (d) preparing a cathode electrode in a similar manner than anode; and (e) assembling all the components in a housing to produce the battery; wherein the anode active material has a material mass loading no less than 20 mg/cm2 in the anode and/or the cathode active material has a material mass loading no less than 30 mg/cm2 in the cathode electrode.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for producing an alkali metal battery, wherein said alkali metal is selected from sodium (Na), potassium (K), a combination of Na and K, a combination of Na and/or K with lithium (Li) and said alkali metal does not include lithium alone; said process comprising:
(a) preparing at least one or a plurality of electrically conductive porous layers, one or a plurality of wet anode layers of a Na/K-based anode active material and a conductive additive mixed with a first liquid electrolyte, and a plurality of wet cathode layers of a sodium or potassium cathode active material and a conductive additive mixed with a second liquid electrolyte, wherein said conductive porous layers contain interconnected conductive pathways and at least 80% by volume of pores;
(b) stacking and consolidating a desired number of said porous layers and a desired number of said wet anode layers in a sequence to form an anode electrode having a thickness no less than 100 μm;
(c) placing a porous separator layer in contact with said anode electrode;
(d) stacking and consolidating a desired number of said electrically conductive porous layers and a desired number of said wet cathode layers in a sequence to form a cathode electrode in contact with said porous separator, wherein said cathode electrode has a thickness no less than 100 μm; wherein step (d) is conducted before or after step (b);
and (e) assembling and sealing said anode electrode, porous separator, and cathode electrode in a housing to produce said alkali metal battery; wherein said anode active material has a material mass loading no less than 20 mg/cm 2 in said anode electrode and/or said cathode active material has a material mass loading no less than 15 mg/cm 2 for an organic or polymer material or no less than 30 mg/cm 2 for an inorganic and non-polymer material in said cathode electrode.

2. A process for producing an alkali metal battery, wherein said alkali metal is selected from sodium (Na), potassium (K), a combination of Na and K, a combination of Na and/or K with lithium (Li) and said alkali metal does not include lithium alone; said process comprising:
(a) preparing at least one or a plurality of electrically conductive porous layers, and one or a plurality of wet cathode layers of a cathode active material and a conductive additive mixed with a liquid electrolyte, wherein said conductive porous layers contain interconnected conductive pathways and at least 80% by volume of pores;
(b) preparing an anode electrode having an anode current collector that has two opposed primary surfaces wherein at least one of the two primary surfaces is deposited with a layer of alkali metal or alkali metal alloy having at least 50% by weight of Na and/or K element in said alloy;
(c) placing a porous separator layer in contact with said anode electrode;
(d) stacking and consolidating a desired number of said electrically conductive porous layers and a desired number of said wet cathode layers in an alternating sequence to form a cathode electrode in contact with said porous separator, wherein said cathode electrode has a thickness no less than 100 μm; wherein said step (d) is conducted before or after step (b);
and (e) assembling and sealing said anode electrode, porous separator, and cathode electrode in a housing to produce said alkali metal battery; wherein said cathode active material has a material mass loading no less than 15 mg/cm 2 for an organic or polymer material or no less than 30 mg/cm 2 for an inorganic and non-polymer material in said cathode electrode.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein said first liquid electrolyte and/or said second liquid electrolyte contains a lithium salt and a polymer dissolved in a liquid solvent to form a polymer gel electrolyte, wherein said liquid solvent is water, an organic solvent, an ionic liquid, or a mixture of an organic solvent and an ionic liquid.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein said first liquid electrolyte and/or said second liquid electrolyte contains a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent at a concentration no less than 2 M, wherein said liquid solvent is water, an organic solvent, an ionic liquid, or a mixture of an organic solvent and an ionic liquid.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein said first liquid electrolyte and/or said second liquid electrolyte contains a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent at a concentration greater than 3.5 M, wherein said liquid solvent is water, an organic solvent, an ionic liquid, or a mixture of an organic solvent and an ionic liquid.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein said first liquid electrolyte and/or said second liquid electrolyte contains a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent at a concentration greater than 5.0 M, wherein said liquid solvent is water, an organic solvent, an ionic liquid, or a mixture of an organic solvent and an ionic liquid.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein said electrically conductive porous layers have at least 85% by volume of pores, said anode electrode and/or said cathode electrode has a thickness no less than 200 μm, said anode active material has a mass loading no less than 25 mg/cm 2 and/or occupies at least 25% by weight or by volume of the entire battery cell, and/or the cathode active material has a mass loading no less than 20 mg/cm 2 for an organic or polymer material or no less than 40 mg/cm 2 for an inorganic and non-polymer material in said cathode and/or occupies at least 40% by weight or by volume of the entire battery cell.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein said electrically conductive porous layers have at least 90% by volume of pores, said anode electrode and/or said cathode electrode has a thickness no less than 300 μm, and/or said anode active material has a mass loading no less than 30 mg/cm 2 and/or occupies at least 30% by weight or by volume of the entire battery cell, and/or the cathode active material has a mass loading no less than 25 mg/cm 2 for an organic or polymer material or no less than 50 mg/cm 2 for an inorganic and non-polymer material in said cathode and/or occupies at least 50% by weight or by volume of the entire battery cell.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein said electrically conductive porous layers have at least 95% by volume of pores, said anode electrode and/or said cathode electrode has a thickness no less than 400 μm, and/or said anode active material has a mass loading no less than 35 mg/cm 2 and/or occupies at least 35% by weight or by volume of the entire battery cell, and/or the cathode active material has a mass loading no less than 30 mg/cm 2 for an organic or polymer material or no less than 55 mg/cm 2 for an inorganic and non-polymer material in said cathode and/or occupies at least 55% by weight or by volume of the entire battery cell.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein said electrically conductive porous layers comprise at least one conductive foam structure selected from metal foam, metal web or screen, perforated metal sheet-based structure, metal fiber mat, metal nanowire mat, conductive polymer nano-fiber mat, conductive polymer foam, conductive polymer-coated fiber foam, carbon foam, graphite foam, carbon aerogel, carbon xerogel, graphene foam, graphene oxide foam, reduced graphene oxide foam, carbon fiber foam, graphite fiber foam, exfoliated graphite foam, or a combination thereof.

11. The process of claim 2 , wherein said anode current collector is a porous foamed structure.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein said cathode active material is a sodium or potassium intercalation compound or sodium- or potassium-absorbing compound selected from an inorganic material, an organic or polymeric material, a m

Assignees

• Nanotek Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z

Classifications

• H01M10/36

  Accumulators not provided for in groups H01M10/05-H01M10/34 · CPC title

• H01M2010/4292

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

• H01M10/054

  Accumulators with insertion or intercalation of metals other than lithium, e.g. with magnesium or aluminium · CPC title

• H01M4/808

  Foamed, spongy materials · CPC title

• H01M10/0585 Primary

  of accumulators having only flat construction elements, i.e. flat positive electrodes, flat negative electrodes and flat separators · CPC title