Lithium ion battery and battery materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10734653-B2
Application number	US-201916550091-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2019
Priority date	Apr 30, 2018
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

In some embodiments, a lithium ion battery includes a first substrate, a cathode, a second substrate, an anode, and an electrolyte. The cathode is arranged on the first substrate and can contain a cathode mixture including Li x S y , wherein x is from 0 to 2 and y is from 1 to 8, and a first particulate carbon. The anode is arranged on the second substrate and can contain an anode mixture containing silicon particles, and a second particulate carbon. The electrolyte can contain a solvent and a lithium salt, and is arranged between the cathode and the anode. In some embodiments, the first particulate carbon or the second particulate carbon contains carbon aggregates comprising a plurality of carbon nanoparticles, each carbon nanoparticle comprising graphene. In some embodiments, the particulate carbon contains carbon meta particles with mesoporous structures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lithium ion battery, comprising:
a first substrate;
a cathode arranged on the first substrate, the cathode comprising:
a cathode mixture comprising:
Li x S y , wherein x is from 0 to 2 and y is from 1 to 8; and
a first particulate carbon;

a second substrate;
an anode arranged on the second substrate, the anode comprising:
an anode mixture comprising:
silicon particles; and
a second particulate carbon; and

an electrolyte arranged between the cathode and the anode, the electrolyte comprising:
a solvent; and
a lithium salt;

wherein:
the first particulate carbon or the second particulate carbon comprise:
carbon aggregates comprising a plurality of carbon nanoparticles, each carbon nanoparticle comprising graphene;
the graphene in the plurality of carbon nanoparticles comprises up to 15 layers;
a percentage of carbon to other elements, except hydrogen, in the carbon aggregates is greater than 99%;
a median size of the carbon aggregates comprising the carbon nanoparticles is from 0.1 microns to 50 microns;
a surface area of the carbon aggregates is from 10 m 2 /g to 300 m 2 /g, when measured via a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method with nitrogen as the adsorbate; and
the carbon aggregates, when compressed, have an electrical conductivity from 500 S/m to 20,000 S/m.

2. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the cathode further comprises a binder.

3. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the anode further comprises graphene oxide.

4. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the first particulate carbon or the second particulate carbon further comprise no seed particles.

5. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the first particulate carbon or the second particulate carbon further comprise long chain carbon allotropes.

6. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the first or the second substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: metal foil, carbon foam, metal foam, carbon paper, carbon fibers, carbon nanofibers, carbon cloth, particulate carbon, and combinations thereof.

7. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the silicon particles comprise a material selected from the group consisting of elemental silicon, lithium-silicon, Li 22 Si 5 , Li 22-x Si 5-y (where x is from 0 to 21.9, and y is from 1 to 4.9), and Li 22-x Si 5-y-z M z (where x is from 0 to 21.9, y is from 1 to 4.9, and z is from 1 to 4.9; and M is S, Se, Sb, Sn, Ga, or As).

8. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte further comprises a redox additive.

9. The lithium ion battery of claim 8 , wherein the redox additive comprises a metallocene comprising a transition metal selected from the group consisting of: a first d-block series transition metal, a second d-block series transition metal, and a third d-block series transition metal.

10. The lithium ion battery of claim 8 , wherein the redox additive comprises a metallocene comprising a transition metal selected from the group consisting of: iron, ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, rhenium and iridium.

11. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the lithium ion battery has a battery capacity above 400 mAh per gram of Li 2 S after 100 cycles.

12. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the cathode or the anode do not contain a binder.

13. The lithium ion battery of claim 1 , wherein the first particulate carbon or the second particulate carbon further comprise mesoporous structures.

14. The lithium ion battery of claim 13 , wherein the mesoporous structures comprise a multimodal distribution of pore sizes comprising pores with sizes from 0.1 nm to 10 nm and pores with sizes from 10 nm to 100 nm.

15. A method to produce a lithium ion battery comprising:
i) assembling a cathode comprising the steps of:
providing a first substrate;
arranging on the first substrate a cathode mixture comprising:
Li x S y , wherein x is from 0 to 2 and y is from 1 to 8; and
a first particulate carbon;

ii) assembling an anode comprising the steps of:
providing a second substrate;
arranging on the second substrate an anode mixture comprising:
silicon particles; and
a second particulate carbon;

iii) formulating an electrolyte comprising the steps of:
providing a solvent;
providing a lithium salt; and
combining the solvent and the lithium salt; and

iv) arranging the electrolyte between the anode and the cathode;
wherein:
the first particulate carbon or the second particulate carbon comprise:
carbon aggregates comprising a plurality of carbon nanoparticles, each carbon nanoparticle comprising graphene;
the graphene in the plurality of carbon nanoparticles comprises up to 15 layers;
a ratio percentage of carbon to other elements, except hydrogen, in the carbon aggregates is greater than 99%;
a median size of the carbon aggregates comprising the carbon nanoparticles is from 0.1 microns to 50 microns;
a surface area of the carbon aggregates is from 10 m 2 /g to 300 m 2 /g, when measured via a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method with nitrogen as the adsorbate; and
the carbon aggregates, when compressed, have an electrical conductivity from 500 S/m to 20,000 S/m.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the cathode or the anode further comprises a binder.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the cathode further comprises a binder.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the anode further comprises graphene oxide.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first particulate carbon or the second particulate carbon further comprise no seed particles.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first particulate carbon or the second particulate carbon further comprise long chain carbon allotropes.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first or the second substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: metal foil, carbon foam, metal foam, carbon paper, carbon fibers, carbon nanofibers, carbon cloth, particulate carbon, and combinations thereof.

22. The method of claim 15 , wherein the silicon particles comprise a material selected from the group consisting of: elemental silicon, lithium-silicon, Li 22 Si 5 , Li 22-x Si 5-y (where x is from 0 to 21.9, and y is from 1 to 4.9), and Li 22-x Si 5-y-z M z (where x is from 0 to 21.9, y is from 1 to 4.9, and z is from 1 to 4.9; and M is S, Se, Sb, Sn, Ga, or As).

23. The method of claim 15 , wherein the electrolyte further comprises a redox additive.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the redox additive comprises a metallocene comprising a transition metal selected from the group consisting of: a first d-block series transition metal, a second d-block series transition metal, and a third d-block series transition metal.

25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the redox additive comprises a metallocene comprising a transition metal selected from the group consisting of: iron, ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, rhenium and iridium.

26. The method of claim 15 , wherein a capacity of the lithium ion battery is above 400 mAh per gram of Li 2 S after 100 cycles.

27. The method of claim 15 , further comprising a separator arranged between the anode and the cathode, wherein the separator is a polymer mat and comprises a polysulfide repelling agent.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein:
the polymer mat is extruded, spun, woven, electro spun, or cast; and
the se

Assignees

• Lyten Inc

Inventors

• Lanning Bruce
• Stowell Michael W
• Anzelmo Bryce H
• Gibbs George Clayton
• Singh Shreeyukta
• Ghezelbash Hossein-Ali
• Hanumantha Prashanth Jampani
• Cook Daniel
• Tanner David

Classifications

• H01M50/414

  Synthetic resins, e.g. thermoplastics or thermosetting resins · CPC title

• H01M2004/021

  Physical characteristics, e.g. porosity, surface area · CPC title

• H01M10/0565

  Polymeric materials, e.g. gel-type or solid-type · CPC title

• H01M4/625 Primary

  Carbon or graphite · CPC title

• H01M4/60

  of organic compounds · CPC title