Production of semi-solid electrodes via addition of electrolyte to mixture of active material, conductive material, and electrolyte solvent

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12362395-B2
Application number	US-202217581583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2022
Priority date	Jan 22, 2021
Publication date	Jul 15, 2025
Grant date	Jul 15, 2025

Abstract

Embodiments described herein relate generally to semi-solid electrodes, and methods of producing the same. In some embodiments, a method of forming a semi-solid electrode can include mixing an active material, a conductive material, and an electrolyte solvent to produce a semi-solid material. The electrolyte solvent is free of electrolyte salt. The method further includes dispensing the semi-solid material onto a current collector and wetting the semi-solid material with an electrolyte solution to form the semi-solid electrode. In some embodiments, the wetting can be via spraying. In some embodiments, the electrolyte salt can have a concentration in the electrolyte solution of at least about 1 M, at least about 2 M, or at least about 3 M. In some embodiments, the solvent can include ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC), ethylene carbonate (EC), propylene carbonate (PC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL), or any combination thereof.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
mixing an active material, a conductive material, and an electrolyte solvent to produce a semi-solid material, the electrolyte solvent free of electrolyte salt;
dispensing the semi-solid material onto a current collector;
incorporating an electrolyte salt into the semi-solid material to form a semi-solid electrode; and
flowing the semi-solid electrode through a tunnel to limit evaporation of the electrolyte solvent.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the electrolyte salt is added directly to the semi-solid material as a powder.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte salt is added via spraying of a solution.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the electrolyte salt has a concentration in the electrolyte solution of at least about 1 M.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the electrolyte salt has a concentration in the electrolyte solution of at least about 2 M.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the electrolyte salt has a concentration in the electrolyte solution of at least about 3 M.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte solvent includes at least one of ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC), ethylene carbonate (EC), propylene carbonate (PC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), or dimethoxyethane (DME).

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte salt includes at least one of lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI), Lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI), and lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF 6 ).

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing at least a portion of the electrolyte solvent from the semi-solid material to increase the energy density of the semi-solid material.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semi-solid electrode is a first electrode, the method further comprising:
combining the first electrode with a second electrode with a separator disposed therebetween to form an electrochemical cell.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
soaking the separator in an electrolyte solution prior to forming the electrochemical cell.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein incorporating the electrolyte salt into the semi-solid material includes wetting the semi-solid material with a solution including the electrolyte salt.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein incorporating the electrolyte salt into the semi-solid material is performed subsequent to dispensing the semi-solid material onto the current collector.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein incorporating the electrolyte salt into the semi-solid material includes communicating a solution including the electrolyte salt to the semi-solid material.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte salt is incorporated into the semi-solid material in the tunnel.

Assignees

• 24M Tech Inc

Inventors

• Chen Junzheng
• Oakes Landon
• Ota Naoki
• Lim Matthew Bonju

Classifications

• Y10T29/49108

  Electric battery cell making · CPC title

• H01M2300/0028

  characterised by the solvent · CPC title

• H01M10/0569

  characterised by the solvents · CPC title

• H01M10/0568

  characterised by the solutes · CPC title

• H01M4/0404

  by coating on electrode collectors · CPC title