Cathode, lithium air battery including cathode, and method of preparing lithium air battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11271218-B2
Application number	US-202016734571-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2020
Priority date	Jan 9, 2019
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cathode, a lithium air battery including a cathode, and a method of preparing the lithium air battery. A cathode configured to use oxygen as a cathode active material, the cathode including: a lithium alloy represented by Formula 1

Li x M y   Formula 1
wherein, in Formula 1, M is Pb, Sn, Mo, Hf, U, Nb, Th, Ta, Bi, Mg, Al, Si, Zn, Ag, Cd, In, Sb, Pt, or Au, 0<x≤10, 0<y≤10, and 0<x/y<10.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cathode configured to use oxygen as a cathode active material, the cathode comprising a lithium alloy layer.

2. The cathode of claim 1 , wherein the lithium alloy layer is an electronic conductor and a lithium ion conductor.

3. The cathode of claim 1 , wherein the lithium alloy layer is represented by Formula 1:
Li x M y   Formula 1

wherein, in Formula 1, M is a metal alloyable with lithium, and 0<x≤10, 0<y≤10, and 0<x/y<10.

4. The cathode of claim 3 , wherein, in Formula 1, M is at least one of Pb, Sn, Mo, Hf, U, Nb, Th, Ta, Bi, Mg, Al, Si, Zn, Ag, Cd, In, Sb, Pt, or Au.

5. The cathode of claim 3 , wherein, in Formula 1, 0<x/y<5.

6. The cathode of claim 1 , wherein the lithium alloy layer is at least one of Li 0.06 Pt, Li 0.14 Pt, Li 0.33 Pt, LiPt, Li 2 Pt, LiPt 7 , Li 0.06 Au, Li 0.14 Au, Li 0.33 Au, LiAu, Li 2 Au, LiAu 7 , Li 0.06 Ag, Li 0.14 Ag, Li 0.33 Ag, LiAg, Li 2 Ag, or LiAg 7 .

7. The cathode of claim 1 , wherein an electronic conductivity of the lithium alloy layer is about 1.0×10 −3 Siemens per centimeter (S/cm) or higher.

8. The cathode of claim 1 , wherein a discharge capacity of the lithium alloy layer is about 1.0 microampere-hour per square centimeter (μAh/cm 2 ) or greater.

9. The cathode of claim 1 , wherein a discharge capacity of the lithium alloy layer relative to a weight of the cathode is about 100 milliampere-hours per gram of the cathode (mAh/g_ cathode ) or greater.

10. The cathode of claim 1 , wherein the lithium alloy layer is electrochemically stable at a voltage of about 2.5 volts (V) or greater versus (vs.) lithium metal.

11. The cathode of claim 1 , further comprising a metal that is a precursor of the lithium alloy layer.

12. The cathode of claim 1 , wherein the cathode is porous.

13. A lithium air battery comprising:
the cathode of claim 1 ;
an anode comprising lithium; and
an electrolyte between the cathode and the anode.

14. The lithium air battery of claim 13 , wherein the lithium air battery further comprises a discharge product disposed on a surface of the cathode, wherein the discharge product comprises at least one of lithium peroxide, lithium oxide, lithium hydroxide, or lithium carbonate.

15. The lithium air battery of claim 14 , wherein a thickness of the discharge product is about 10 micrometers (μm) or less.

16. The lithium air battery of claim 14 , wherein the discharge product is at least one of Li 2 O 2 , LiOH, Li 2 CO 3 , or Li 2 O.

17. The lithium air battery of claim 13 , wherein the electrolyte comprises a solid electrolyte.

18. The lithium air battery of claim 17 , wherein the solid electrolyte is at least one of a lithium ion-conductive glass, a crystalline lithium ion-conductive ceramic, or a crystalline lithium ion-conductive glass-ceramic.

19. The lithium air battery of claim 17 , wherein the solid electrolyte comprises at least one of lithium-aluminum-germanium-phosphate (LAGP), lithium-aluminum-titanium-phosphate (LATP), or lithium-aluminum-titanium-silicon-phosphate (LATSP).

20. A method of preparing the lithium air battery of claim 13 , the method comprising:
disposing an electrolyte film on the anode;
disposing a metal alloyable with lithium on the electrolyte film; and
electrochemically forming a lithium alloy layer from the metal alloyable with lithium to form the cathode on the electrolyte film to prepare the lithium air battery.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the electrolyte film is a solid electrolyte film.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Choi Wonsung
• Kim Hyunjin
• Choi Kyounghwan
• Kim Mokwon
• Minami Daiki

Classifications

• H01M4/382 Primary

  Lithium (H01M4/405 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M10/0562

  Solid materials · CPC title

• H01M2004/8689

  Positive electrodes · CPC title

• H01M4/1395

  of electrodes based on metals, Si or alloys · CPC title

• H01M12/08

  composed of a half-cell of a fuel-cell type and a half-cell of the secondary-cell type · CPC title