Molten air rechargeable batteries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10637115-B2
Application number	US-201414766430-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2014
Priority date	Feb 9, 2013
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to rechargeable electrochemical battery cells (molten air batteries). The cells use air and a molten electrolyte, are quasi-reversible (rechargeable) and have the capacity for multiple electrons stored per molecule and have high intrinsic electric energy storage capacities. The present disclosure also relates to the use of such in a range of electronic, transportation and power generation devices, such as greenhouse gas reduction applications, electric car batteries and increased capacity energy storage systems for the electric grid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A rechargeable battery cell comprising:
a) a rechargeable air electrode;
b) a rechargeable non-metal electrode that is capable of being oxidized; and
c) a molten electrolyte disposed between the air electrode and the non-metal electrode;
wherein at the air electrode, the principal reaction is oxygen (O 2 ) being reduced during discharge, the principal reaction is not carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and oxygen (O 2 ) being reduced to form carbonate (CO 3 −2 ) during discharge, and
wherein the molten electrolyte comprises one or more metal carbonates,
wherein external carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is not required for discharge at the air electrode.

2. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the melting point of the molten electrolyte is (i) between about 395° C. and about 900° C. (ii) between about 600° C. and about 900° C., (iii) between about 600° C. and about 900° C., (iv) between about 720° C. and about 900° C., (v) between about 700° C. and about 800° C., or (vi) between about 150° C. and about 500° C.

3. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the melting point of the molten electrolyte is about 395° C., about 500° C., about 600° C., about 700° C., or about 723° C.

4. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the melting point of the molten electrolyte is between about 395° C. and about 600° C.

5. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the cell operates at a temperature between about 395° C. and about 600° C.

6. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte is selected from lithium carbonate, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, strontium carbonate, rubidium carbonate, cesium carbonate, barium carbonate, calcium carbonate, or any combination thereof.

7. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte is selected from lithium carbonate, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, or any combination thereof.

8. The rechargeable battery cell according claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte comprises lithium carbonate.

9. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte comprises a binary mixture of lithium carbonate, potassium carbonate or sodium carbonate.

10. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte is Li 0.7 Na 0.9 CO 3 .

11. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte comprises lithium carbonate, sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate.

12. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 11 , wherein the molten electrolyte is Li 0.9 Na 0.6 K 0.5 CO 3 .

13. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte comprises CaCO 3 , Na 2 CO 3 , K 2 CO 3 , or any combination thereof.

14. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 13 , wherein the molten electrolyte is selected from Ca 0.3 Na 0.7 K 0.7 CO 3 , Ca 0.3 Na 0.7 K 0.8 CO 3 or Ca 0.2 Na 1.0 K 0.7 CO 3 .

15. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte further comprises one or more alkali metal hydroxides, alkali earth metal hydroxides, alkali metal hydroxide eutectics, alkali earth metal hydroxide eutectics, or any combination thereof.

16. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 15 , wherein the molten electrolyte further comprises NaOH, LiOH, KOH, Na 2 CO 3 , Li 2 CO 3 , K 2 CO 3 , or any combination thereof.

17. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 15 , wherein the cell operates at a temperature between about 150° C. and about 500° C.

18. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte further comprises a molten nonconductive salt and an inorganic salt, the inorganic salt conductive when dissolved.

19. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 18 wherein the conductive when dissolved inorganic salt is selected from metal oxides, metal halides, metal sulfates, metal nitrates, metal palates, or any combination thereof.

20. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 18 wherein the conductive when dissolved inorganic salt is selected from alkali metal oxides, alkali earth metal oxides, alkali metal halides, alkali earth metal halides, alkali metal sulfates, alkali earth metal sulfates, alkali metal nitrates, alkali earth metal nitrates, alkali metal halates, alkali earth metal halates, and any combination thereof.

21. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the molten electrolyte further comprises lithium oxide, magnesium oxide, calcium oxide, or any combination thereof.

22. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the chemistry of the cell can be expressed by equation (1):
C+O 2 CO 2   (1).

23. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 , wherein the non-metal electrode that is capable of being oxidized comprises a carbon, a hydride, a carbide, or any combination thereof.

24. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 23 , wherein the carbon is selected from graphite, amorphous carbon or nanocarbon.

25. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 24 , wherein the nanocarbon is selected from fullerenes, nanorods or nanotubes.

26. The rechargeable battery cell according to claim 23 , wherein the non-metal electrode that is capable of being oxidized comprises carbon.

27. An electrical energy storage product comprising a rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 .

28. A bank of cells comprising a plurality of rechargeable battery cells according to claim 1 .

29. A rechargeable energy storage device incorporating the rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 .

30. A method of cyclically storing and releasing energy comprising cyclically charging and discharging a rechargeable battery cell according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• C2Cnt Llc

Inventors

• Licht Stuart

Classifications

• H01M2300/0091

  in the form of mixtures · CPC title

• H01M2300/0071

  Oxides · CPC title

• H01M4/90

  Selection of catalytic material · CPC title

• H01M4/244

  Zinc electrodes · CPC title

• H01M4/248

  Iron electrodes · CPC title