Catalyst system for advanced metal-air batteries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10978703-B2
Application number	US-201515534912-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2015
Priority date	Dec 14, 2014
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

The disclosure relates generally to batteries. The disclosure relates more specifically to improved catalyst systems for metal-air batteries. A metal-air battery comprising: an anode comprising a metal; a cathode comprising at least one transition metal dichalcogenide; and an electrolyte in contact with the anode and the transition metal dichalcogenide of the cathode, wherein the electrolyte comprises at least 50% by weight of an ionic liquid, is disclosed herein.

First claim

We claim:

1. A metal-air battery comprising:
an anode comprising a metal;
a cathode comprising a material containing at least one transition metal dichalcogenide, in which each chalcogen is independently S, Se, or Te or a combination thereof, the transition metal dichalcogenide being configured as a catalyst for an oxygen evolution reaction during a charging operation of the metal-air battery and an oxygen reduction reaction during a discharging operation of the metal-air battery, wherein:
the transition metal dichalcogenide-containing material of the cathode includes at least 50 wt % of the at least one transition metal dichalcogenide, and
the transition metal dichalcogenide is
in nanoparticle form, having an average size between 1 nm and 1000 nm,
in nanoflake form, having an average thickness in the range of 1 nm to 100 nm, average dimensions along the major surface of 50 nm to 10 μm, and an aspect ratio of at least 5:1, or
in nanoribbon form, having an average width between 1 and 400 nm; and

an electrolyte in contact with the transition metal dichalcogenide-containing material of the cathode, and optionally with the metal of the anode,

wherein the electrolyte comprises at least 10% by weight of a co-catalytic ionic liquid having a cation having a positively-charged sulfur, phosphorus or nitrogen atom, and
wherein each transition metal dichalcogenide is provided in crystalline form terminated along the (100) and (010) crystallographic planes.

2. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the anode consists essentially of the metal.

3. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the metal of the anode is lithium.

4. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the transition metal dichalcogenide-containing material of the cathode includes at least 70 wt % transition metal dichalcogenide.

5. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the cathode comprises the transition metal dichalcogenide-containing material disposed on a porous member or a current collector.

6. A metal-air battery according to claim 5 , wherein the porous member is in contact with oxygen in the gas phase.

7. A metal-air battery according to claim 5 , wherein the porous member is electrically-conductive.

8. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein each transition metal dichalcogenide is TiX 2 , MoX 2 or WX 2 , wherein each X is independently S, Se, or Te or a combination thereof.

9. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein each transition metal dichalcogenide is TiS 2 , MoS 2 , or WS 2 .

10. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein each transition metal dichalcogenide is MoS 2 .

11. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein each transition metal dichalcogenide is in nanoparticle form, having an average size between about 1 nm and 1000 nm.

12. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein each transition metal dichalcogenide is in nanoribbon form, having an average width between about 1 nm and 400 nm.

13. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the ionic liquid is 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate.

14. A method of generating an electrical potential, comprising:
providing a metal-air battery according to claim 1 ;
allowing oxygen to contact the cathode;
allowing the metal of the anode to be oxidized to metal ions; and
allowing the oxygen to be reduced at a surface of the transition metal dichalcogenide to form one or more metal oxides with the metal ions, wherein the transition metal dichalcogenide acts as a catalyst for the reduction of the oxygen at the surface of the transition metal dichalcogenide,
thereby generating the electrical potential between the anode and the cathode.

15. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one transition metal dichalcogenide is selected from VX 2 , NbX 2 , MoX 2 , TaX 2 , and ReX 2 , wherein each X is independently S, Se, or Te or a combination thereof, and wherein the transition metal dichalcogenide-containing material of the cathode includes at least 50 wt % of the at least one transition metal dichalcogenide.

16. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte comprises at least 20% by weight of the ionic liquid.

17. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the transition metal dichalcogenide is selected from TiX 2 , VX 2 , CrX 2 , ZrX 2 , NbX 2 , MoX 2 , HfX 2 , WX 2 , TaX 2 , TcX 2 and ReX 2 , in which each X is independently S, Se, or Te or a combination thereof.

18. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the ionic liquid is an imidazolium salt, a pyridinium salt, a pyrrolidinium salt, a choline-based salt, an ammonium salt, a propulisoquinolinium salt, a benzamidine salt, a chloroformamidinium salt, a thiuronium salt, a phosphonium salt, or a sulfonium salt.

19. A metal-air battery according to claim 18 , wherein an anion of the ionic liquid is anion is C 1 -C 6 alkyl sulfate, tosylate, methanesulfonate, bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl)imide, hexafluorophosphate, tetrafluoroborate, triflate, halide, carbamate or sulfamate.

20. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the transition metal dichalcogenide is selected from VX 2 , NbX 2 , MoX 2 , WX 2 , TaX 2 , and ReX 2 , in which each X is independently S, Se, or Te or a combination thereof.

21. A metal-air battery according to claim 20 , wherein the ionic liquid is an imidazolium salt, a pyridinium salt, a pyrrolidinium salt, a choline-based salt, an ammonium salt, a propulisoquinolinium salt, a benzamidine salt, a chloroformamidinium salt, a thiurnoium thiuronium salt, a phosphonium salt, or a sulfonium salt.

22. A metal-air battery according to claim 1 , wherein the transition metal dichalcogenide is coated onto the cathode in a thickness of up to 1000 μm.

23. A metal air-battery according to claim 1 , wherein the transition metal dichalcogenide is coated onto the cathode 1 to 10 layers thick.

Assignees

• Board Of Trustees Of The Univ Of Illinois
• Univ Illinois

Inventors

• Salehi-Khojin Amin
• Kumar Bijandra
• Asadi Mohammad

Classifications

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• H01M4/90

  Selection of catalytic material · CPC title

• H01M4/38 Primary

  of elements or alloys · CPC title

• H01M4/382

  Lithium (H01M4/405 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M10/0569

  characterised by the solvents · CPC title