Long-life lithium-sulfur battery using a novel flexible bi-layer solid state electrolyte

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12469930-B2
Application number	US-202017613873-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2020
Priority date	May 24, 2019
Publication date	Nov 11, 2025
Grant date	Nov 11, 2025

Abstract

A lithium-sulfur battery cell includes a cathode that includes sulfur, an anode that includes lithium metal; and a bilayer membrane interposed between the cathode and the anode. The bilayer membrane includes a mixed conduction membrane layer and a lithium ion-conducting polymer electrolyte layer where the lithium ion-conducting layer is interposed between the mixed conduction membrane layer and the anode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A lithium-sulfur battery cell comprising:
a cathode that includes sulfur; an anode that includes lithium metal; and a bilayer membrane interposed between the cathode and the anode, the bilayer membrane including a mixed conduction membrane layer and a lithium ion-conducting layer, the lithium ion-conducting layer being interposed between the mixed conduction membrane layer and the anode, wherein the lithium-sulfur battery cell is substantially free of liquid-electrolyte, wherein the mixed conduction membrane layer is an electrical and ionic conductive material that selectively allows transport of lithium ions by intercalation, wherein the mixed conduction membrane layer includes a polymeric binder and a lithium intercalation material dispersed therein, wherein the lithium intercalation material is nanosized having at least one spatial dimension from about 10 nm to 100 nm or micron-sized having at least one spatial dimension between 100 nm and 10 microns, wherein the lithium intercalation material is a lithium transition metal oxide, and wherein the lithium transition metal oxide includes a compound selected from the group consisting of LiCoO 2 , LiFePO 4 , LiNiCoAlO 2 , LiNiMnCoO 2 , LiMn 2 O 4 , Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 , and combinations thereof.

2 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 1 wherein the lithium ion-conducting layer is a polymeric lithium ion-conducting electrolyte composed of a polymeric binder with a lithium salt dispersed throughout the polymeric lithium ion-conducting electrolyte.

3 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 2 wherein the lithium salt is bis(trifluorodimethane) sulfonimide, LiPF 6 , or lithium perchlorate).

4 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 2 , wherein the polymeric lithium ion-conducting electrolyte is selected from the group consisting of poly(ethylene oxide), poly(vinyl butyral), poly(methyl methacrylate), cross-linked poly(ethylene glycol), PEO-block-poly(N,N-Dimethylacrylamide), and combinations thereof.

5 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 1 wherein the lithium ion-conducting layer includes a lithium oxide-containing ion conductor with or without a polymeric electrolyte.

6 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 5 wherein the lithium oxide-containing ion conductor is selected from the group consisting of Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12 , Li 3x La 2/3-x TiO 3 where x is 0.005 to 0.15, and combinations thereof.

7 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 1 wherein the mixed conduction membrane layer contacts the cathode.

8 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 7 wherein the lithium-sulfur battery cell is a solid state battery cell.

9 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 1 wherein mixed conduction membrane layer has a thickness from 15 to 50 microns.

10 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 1 wherein the mixed conduction membrane layer includes nanoparticles of the lithium intercalation material.

11 . The lithium-sulfur battery cell of claim 1 wherein the cathode further includes carbon and a polymeric binder.

Assignees

• Univ Southern California

Inventors

• Narayan Sri
• Elizalde-Segovia Rodrigo
• Jayathilake Buddhinie
• Maniyanganam Ahmed Irshad

Classifications

• H01M2300/0082

  Organic polymers · CPC title

• H01M10/0585

  of accumulators having only flat construction elements, i.e. flat positive electrodes, flat negative electrodes and flat separators · CPC title

• H01M10/0565

  Polymeric materials, e.g. gel-type or solid-type · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

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

• H01M4/622

  being polymers · CPC title