Methods and apparatuses for polymer fibrillization under electric field

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10547045-B2
Application number	US-201514642471-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2015
Priority date	Mar 10, 2014
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

A method of fibrillizing a fibrillizable binder component of an electrode film can include providing a negatively charged fibrillizable binder component, and applying an electric field upon the negatively charged binder component to fibrillize the negatively charged fibrillizable binder component. A system for fibrillizing a binder component of an electrode film can include a mixing container made of a material having an affinity to donate electron(s) to the binder component, and an actuator configured to apply a force upon the mixing container so as to contact the mixing container with the binder component and to move the mixing container and the binder component relative to each other within a speed and range of motion sufficient to create an electrostatic force on the binder component and fibrillize the binder component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for fibrillizing a dry binder component of a dry electrode film mixture, comprising:
a mixing container, wherein at least a portion of the mixing container is formed of a material having an affinity to donate one or more electrons to a dry binder component contained within the container, the container containing at least one dry active material component;
an actuator positioned outside of the container; and
a base configured to support the actuator,
wherein the actuator is configured to:
apply a force upon the mixing container,
cause the portion of the mixing container to contact the dry binder component,
cause the mixing container to move relative to the base with a speed and within a range of motion sufficient to create an electrostatic force on the dry binder component, and
fibrillize the dry binder component among or on one or more surfaces of the dry active material component, wherein the actuator fibrillizes the dry binder component based on manipulating the dry binder component via the electrostatic force created on the dry binder component.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
the dry binder component; and
a mixing medium comprising a material having an affinity to transfer negative charge from the mixing container to the dry binder component.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the mixing medium comprises a same material as the dry binder component.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the mixing medium and dry binder component both comprise polytetrafluoroethylene.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the actuator is further configured to apply the force upon the dry binder component.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the actuator is configured to apply an acoustic force to the dry binder component.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mixing container comprises an aluminum material.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the mixing medium comprises a different material from the mixing container.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the actuator is configured to apply at least one of a linear force and a rotational force upon the mixing container.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a low shear mixer for combining the dry binder component with the dry active material component or other components of the dry electrode film mixture.

11. A system, comprising:
an electric-field generator;
a container, wherein at least a portion of the mixing container is formed of a material having an affinity to donate one or more electrons to a dry binder component contained within the container, the container containing at least one dry active material component; and
a fibrillizable binder component,
wherein the electric field generator is configured to:
apply an electric field to the dry fibrillizable binder component, and
fibrillize the dry fibrillizable binder component among or on one or more surfaces of the dry active material component with the electric field when the dry fibrillizable binder component is contained within the container based on manipulating the dry fibrillizable binder component via the electric field applied to the dry fibrillizable binder component.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising an actuator positioned outside of the container and configured to apply a force upon the container.

13. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a vacuum oven configured to heat a fibrillizable binder component to create the dry fibrillizable binder component and to heat an active material component to create the dry active material component prior to the electric field being applied upon the fibrillizable binder component.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the fibrillizable binder component comprises polytetrafluoroethylene.

Assignees

• Maxwell Lab

Inventors

• Hong Jian
• Xi Xiaomei

Classifications

• H01M4/8896

  Pressing, rolling, calendering (membrane electrode assemblies H01M8/1004) · CPC title

• H01M4/0435

  Rolling or calendering · CPC title

• H01M4/88

  Processes of manufacture · CPC title

• H01G11/30 Primary

  characterised by their material · CPC title

• H01M4/1393

  of electrodes based on carbonaceous material, e.g. graphite-intercalation compounds or CFx · CPC title