Metal carbides and metal nitrides for a fluoride ion battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11710825-B2
Application number	US-202016951769-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2020
Priority date	Nov 18, 2019
Publication date	Jul 25, 2023
Grant date	Jul 25, 2023

Abstract

The invention generally relates to electrochemically active structures and methods of making thereof. More specifically, the invention relates to electrochemically active structure comprising a crystalline electride comprising a nitride or carbide of at least one of: an alkaline earth metal, a transition metal, a lanthanide metal, or a combination thereof, wherein the electride has a lattice capable of intercalating at least one ion, thereby releasing at least one electron into an external circuit; and wherein a change in lattice volume of the electride upon intercalating the at least one ion is less than about 40%. Further, methods of making these electrochemically active structures are disclosed. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrochemically active structure comprising a crystalline electride comprising:
a nitride or carbide of at least one of: an alkaline earth metal, a transition metal, a lanthanide metal, or a combination thereof,
wherein the electride has a lattice capable of intercalating at least one anion, thereby releasing at least one electron into an external circuit; and
wherein a change in lattice volume of the electride upon intercalating the at least one anion is less than about 40%.

2. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the electride comprises a nitride or carbide efof one or more of Ca, Sr, Ba, Mg, Y, Sc, Gd.

3. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the electride comprises a nitride or carbide of one or more of Y, Sc, Gd.

4. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the electride comprises a nitride.

5. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the electride comprises a carbide.

6. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the change in lattice volume of the electride upon intercalating the at least one anion is less than about 30%.

7. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the electride comprises two or more positively charged layers and wherein the electride has a predetermined interlayer distance.

8. The electrochemically active structure of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined interlayer distance is from about 2.8 Å to about 5 Å.

9. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the anion is a fluoride ion.

10. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the electride has a theoretical gravimetric capacity from about 140 mAh/g to about 650 mAh/g.

11. The electrochemically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the electride is further capable of intercalating an additional anion having a size larger than the at least one anion, wherein the intercalation of the additional anion does not release an electron into the external circuit, and wherein the additional anion prevents a change in the lattice volume upon intercalating of the at least one anion.

12. The electrochemically active structure of claim 11 , wherein the additional anion is chloride.

13. A battery comprising a cathode and an anode comprising a crystalline electride comprising at least one layer comprising a nitride or carbide of one or more of an alkaline earth metal, a transition metal, a lanthanide, or a combination thereof;
wherein the electride has a lattice capable of intercalating at least one anion, thereby releasing at least one electron into an external circuit; and wherein a change in lattice volume of the electride upon intercalating the at least one anion is less than about 40%; wherein the battery has an open circuit voltage from about 1.0 volts to about 4.5 volts and has a theoretical gravimetric density from about 300 to about 2,000 Wh/kg.

14. The battery of claim 13 , wherein the electride is a nitride or carbide of one or more of Ca, Sr, Ba, Mg, Y, Sc, Gd.

15. The battery of claim 13 , wherein the electride comprises two or more positively charged layers and wherein the electride has a predetermined interlayer distance.

16. A method comprising:
a) reacting a metal represented by a formula A, wherein A comprises Ca, Sr, Ba, Mg, Y, Sc, Gd, or a combination thereof by reaction of with a carbon under conditions effective to form a compound represented by a formula A 2 C; and
b) size reducing the compound represented by a formula A 2 C wherein A comprises Ca, Sr, Ba, Mg, Y, Sc, Gd, or a combination thereof, to form a crystalline carbide electride,
wherein the carbide crystalline electride has a lattice capable of intercalating at least one ion, thereby releasing at least one electron into an external circuit; and
wherein a change in lattice volume of the electride upon intercalation is less than about 40%.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the conditions effective to form the compound represented by a formula A 2 C comprise applying heating to a temperature from about 500° C. to about 3000° C. under pressure from about 1 to about 760 mmHg.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the size-reducing step comprises ball milling or further comprises ball milling.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the crystalline electride has a particle a size from about 100 nm to about 150 μm.

Assignees

• Univ North Carolina Chapel Hill
• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Warren Scott C
• Druffel Daniel L
• Pawlik Jacob
• Woomer Adam H
• Xu Qingmin
• Omichi Kaoru
• Brooks Christopher

Classifications

• H01M4/58 Primary

  of inorganic compounds other than oxides or hydroxides, e.g. sulfides, selenides, tellurides, halogenides or LiCoFy; of polyanionic structures, e.g. phosphates, silicates or borates · CPC title

• C01B32/914 Primary

  Carbides of single elements · CPC title

• H01M10/05

  Accumulators with non-aqueous electrolyte (H01M10/39 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C01P2002/85

  by XPS, EDX or EDAX data · CPC title

• C01P2004/03

  obtained by SEM · CPC title