Lithium-sulphur cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10811728-B2
Application number	US-201515315133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2015
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Oct 20, 2020
Grant date	Oct 20, 2020

Abstract

The present invention relates to a lithium-sulphur cell comprising an anode comprising lithium metal or lithium metal alloy;a cathode comprising a mixture of electroactive sulphur material and solid electroconductive material; and a liquid electrolyte comprising at least one lithium salt and a solvent comprising a dinitrile.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A lithium-sulphur cell comprising:
an anode comprising lithium metal or lithium metal alloy;
a cathode comprising a mixture of electroactive sulphur material and solid electroconductive material. wherein the electroactive sulphur material is reduced to polysulfide species and/or lithium sufide during discharge of the lithium-sulphur cell, and wherein the solid electroconductive material consists essentially of carbon black, carbon fiber, carbon nanotubes, or mixtures thereof; and
a liquid electrolyte composition comprising at least one lithium salt, lithium polysulphides, and a dintrile;
wherein the dinitrile has the formula (II):

wherein:
p is 0 or 1,
q is an integer of 1 to 9,
r is 0 or 1, and
R 3 , R 4 , R 5 and R 6 are each independently selected from H and a C 1 to C 6 alkyl group, and wherein at least one of R 3 and R 4 is H and at least one of R 5 and R 6 is H; and
wherein the concentration of lithium salt in the liquid electrolyte composition is 0.2 M to 3M.

2. The cell of claim 1 , wherein at least one of R 3 , R 4 , R 5 and R 6 is a C 1 to C 6 alkyl group.

3. The cell of claim 1 , wherein p is 0 and r is 1.

4. The cell of claim 3 , wherein q is 2.

5. The cell of claim 3 , wherein at least one of R 5 and R 6 is H and the other is a C 1 to C 6 alkyl.

6. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the C 1 to C 6 alkyl group is methyl.

7. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the dinitrile is selected from at least one of 2-methylglutaronitrile, succinonitrile and adiponitrile.

8. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the electroactive sulphur material comprises elemental sulphur.

9. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the solid electroconductive material comprises carbon.

10. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the solid electroconductive material consists essentially of carbon black, carbon fiber, or carbon nanotubes.

11. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the solid electroconductive material consists essentially of carbon black.

12. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the solid electroconductive material consists of carbon black, carbon fiber, or carbon nanotubes.

13. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the solid electroconductive material consists of carbon black.

14. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of lithium salt in the liquid electrolyte composition is 0.4 M to 2M.

15. The cell of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of lithium salt in the liquid electrolyte composition is 0.5 M to 1M.

16. The lithium-sulphur cell of claim 1 , wherein the electroactive sulphur material comprises elemental sulphur or a sulphur-based inorganic compound that is reduced to polysulfide species and/or lithium sufide during discharge of the lithium-sulphur cell.

Assignees

• Oxis Energy Ltd
• Arkema France

Inventors

• Desilani Sebastian
• Cooke Ashley
• Schmidt Gregory

Classifications

• H01M50/423

  Polyamide resins · CPC title

• H01M50/417

  Polyolefins · CPC title

• H01M50/491

  Porosity · CPC title

• H01M10/052

  Li-accumulators · CPC title

• H01M4/5815

  Sulfides · CPC title