Standalone sulfide based lithium ion-conducting glass solid electrolyte and associated structures, cells and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10833361-B2
Application number	US-201816161720-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2018
Priority date	Dec 2, 2014
Publication date	Nov 10, 2020
Grant date	Nov 10, 2020

Abstract

A standalone lithium ion-conductive solid electrolyte including a freestanding inorganic vitreous sheet of sulfide-based lithium ion conducting glass is capable of high performance in a lithium metal battery by providing a high degree of lithium ion conductivity while being highly resistant to the initiation and/or propagation of lithium dendrites. Such an electrolyte is also itself manufacturable, and readily adaptable for battery cell and cell component manufacture, in a cost-effective, scalable manner.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery cell comprising:
a positive electrode;
a negative electrode comprising a lithium electroactive layer; and
a lithium ion-conductive solid electrolyte in lithium ion communication with the positive electrode and the negative electrode, the
lithium ion-conductive solid electrolyte, comprising:
a freestanding inorganic vitreous sheet of sulfide-based lithium ion conducting glass having,
a liquid-like surface;
an area of at least 10 cm 2 ;
a thickness of no more than 100 μm; and
a room temperature intrinsic lithium ion conductivity of at least 10 −5 S/cm.

2. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the glass sheet has a substantially uniform thickness of no more than 100 μm.

3. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the glass sheet further comprises substantially parallel lengthwise edges.

4. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the glass sheet is a continuous web at least 100 cm in length.

5. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the glass sheet is a continuous web at least 1000 cm in length.

6. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the vitreous sulfide-based glass sheet is characterized as having a threshold current for Li dendrite initiation that is greater than 1 mA/cm 2 .

7. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the liquid-like surface lacks surface flaws having a depth dimension greater than 1% of the sheet thickness.

8. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the sheet lacks of powder particles, inter-particle boundaries, or contiguous voids extending between first and second principal surfaces that are sufficient to propagate a Li dendrite, and the liquid-like surface lacks flaw manifestations of a pressed powder compact that are sufficient to initiate Li dendrite penetration.

9. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the sulfide glass has a glass stability factor {T x -T g }<100° C.

10. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the sulfide glass has a glass stability factor {T x -T g }<50° C.

11. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the sulfide glass has a glass stability factor {T x -T g }<30° C.

12. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the sulfide-based glass is of a type Li 2 S—YS n ; Li 2 S—YS n —YO n and combinations thereof, wherein Y is selected from the group consisting of Ge, Si, As, B, or P, and n=2, 3/2 or 5/2.

13. The battery cell of claim 12 , wherein the glass is chemically and electrochemically compatible in contact with lithium metal.

14. The battery cell of claim 12 , wherein the glass is devoid of phosphorous.

15. The battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the glass comprises Li 2 S and/or Li 2 O as a glass modifier and one or more of a glass former selected from the group consisting of P 2 S 5 , P 2 O 5 , SiS 2 , SiO 2 , B 2 S 3 and B 2 O 3 .

16. An electrode assembly, comprising:
a lithium ion-conductive solid electrolyte, comprising:
a freestanding inorganic vitreous sheet of sulfide-based lithium ion conducting glass having,
a liquid-like surface;
an area of at least 10 cm 2 ;
a thickness of no more than 100 μm; and
a room temperature intrinsic lithium ion conductivity of at least 10 −5 S/cm; and

a lithium metal layer in direct contact with the liquid-like surface of the sheet.

17. The electrode assembly of claim 16 , wherein the glass sheet further comprises substantially parallel lengthwise edges.

18. The electrode assembly of claim 16 , wherein the glass sheet is a continuous web at least 1000 cm in length.

19. The electrode assembly of claim 16 , wherein the liquid-like surface lacks surface flaws having a depth dimension greater than 1% of the sheet thickness.

20. The electrode assembly of claim 16 , wherein the sulfide glass has a glass stability factor {T x -T g }<30° C.

Assignees

• Polyplus Battery Co Inc

Inventors

• Visco Steven J
• Nimon Yevgeniy S
• De Jonghe Lutgard C
• Katz Bruce D
• Nimon Vitaliy

Classifications

• C03C3/321

  Chalcogenide glasses, e.g. containing S, Se, Te · CPC title

• C03C3/19

  containing boron · CPC title

• C03B17/067

  combined with thermal conditioning of the sheets · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title

• C03C4/18

  for ion-sensitive glass · CPC title