Multilayered Sulfur Composite Cathodes for Lithium Sulfur Batteries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016172667-A1
Application number	US-201514960998-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 7, 2015
Priority date	Dec 11, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A multilayered cathode for a lithium sulfur battery comprising at least one current collector working electrode having a surface comprising a carbon containing layer, two or more sulfur containing layers wherein at least one of the sulfur layers is located in juxtaposition to and in communication with the carbon containing layer, and at least one outermost layer comprising a positively charged polymer for forming interconnected layers of the sulfur containing layer, the carbon containing layer, and the polymer. Preferably, the cathode has layers that are alternatively arranged of two or more different sulfur containing layers. A lithium sulfur battery is provided and a method of making a multilayered cathode for a lithium sulfur battery is disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A multilayered cathode for a lithium sulfur battery comprising:
at least one current collector working electrode having a surface comprising a carbon containing layer; two or more sulfur containing layers wherein at least one of said sulfur layers is located in juxtaposition to and in communication with said carbon containing layer; and at least one outermost layer comprising a positively charged polymer for forming interconnected layers of said sulfur containing layer, said carbon containing layer, and said polymer, wherein said outermost layer is in juxtaposition to and in communication with at least one of said sulfur layers.

2 . The multilayered cathode of claim 2 wherein said carbon containing layer comprises a carbon nanotube —COO − moiety.

3 . The multilayered cathode of claim 1 comprising alternatively arranged layers of said sulfur containing layers wherein said sulfur containing layers comprise one or more sulfur containing compounds and one or more sulfur-carbon-polymer composites.

4 . The multilayered cathode of claim 1 wherein said layers have porous cross-linked structures.

5 . The multilayered cathode of claim 1 wherein at least one of said sulfur containing layers is a sulfur-carbon nanotube polystyrene sulfonate polymer.

6 . The multilayered cathode of claim 1 wherein said outermost layer of said positively charged polymer is a sulfur polyaniline polymer.

7 . A lithium sulfur battery having at least one multilayered cathode and at least one anode, wherein said multilayered cathode comprises at least one current collector working electrode having a surface comprising a carbon containing layer; two or more sulfur containing layers wherein at least one of said sulfur layers is located in juxtaposition to and in communication with said carbon containing layer; and at least one outermost layer comprising a positively charged polymer for forming interconnected layers of said sulfur containing layer, said carbon containing layer, and said polymer, wherein said outermost layer is in juxtaposition to and in communication with at least one of said sulfur layers.

8 . The lithium sulfur battery of claim 7 wherein said carbon containing layer of said multilayered cathode comprises a carbon nanotube —COO − moiety.

9 . The lithium sulfur battery of claim 7 wherein said multilayered cathode comprises alternatively arranged layers of said sulfur containing layers wherein said sulfur containing layers comprise one or more sulfur containing compounds and one or more sulfur-carbon-polymer composites.

10 . The lithium sulfur battery of claim 7 wherein said layers of said multilayered cathode have porous cross-linked structures.

11 . The lithium sulfur battery of claim 7 wherein at least one of said sulfur containing layers of said multilayered cathode is a sulfur-carbon nanotube polystyrene sulfonate polymer.

12 . The lithium sulfur battery of claim 7 wherein said outermost layer of said positively charged polymer of said multilayered cathode is a sulfur polyaniline polymer.

13 . A method of making a multilayered cathode for a lithium sulfur battery comprising:
employing at least one of the methods selected from the group consisting of (1) a layer-by-layer (LbL) method, (2) a step-by-step electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method, (3) a spin-assisted assembly technique, and (4) an alternately misting method, to produce a multilayered sulfur composite cathode.

14 . A method of making a multilayered cathode for a lithium sulfur battery comprising:
(a) providing a sulfur carbon nanotube polystrenesulfonate composition dispersed in water for forming a sulfur carbon nanotube polystyrene dispersion; (b) providing a sulfurized polyaniline composition dispersed in water for forming a sulfurized polyaniline dispersion; (c) providing a current collector having a surface comprising a carbon coating; (d) immersing said current collector having said carbon coating into said sulfurized polyaniline dispersion to form a sulfurized polyaniline coated current collector; and (e) immersing said sulfurized polyaniline coated current collector into said sulfur carbon nanotube polystyrene dispersion for forming one layer of said sulfurized polyaniline and said sulfur carbon nanotube polystyrenesulfonate treated current collector; and (f) repeating said steps (d) and (e) one or more times to form one or more additional layers of said sulfurized polyaniline and said sulfur carbon nanotube polystyrenesulfonate upon said treated current collector.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein said carbon coating comprises one or more of a functionalized porous carbon, graphite, grapheme, carbon nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers, and carbon rods.

16 . The method of claim 14 wherein said functionalized porous carbon is a carbon nanotube functionalized with a COO − group to form a carbon nanotube COO − .

17 . The method of claim 14 wherein said current collector is one or more selected from the group consisting of an aluminum substrate, a copper substrate, a nickel substrate, and a conductive glass.

Assignees

• Univ West Virginia

Inventors

• Yan Jianhua
• Li Bingyun
• Liu Xingbo

Classifications

• H01M4/366

  as layered products · CPC title

• C25D13/22 Primary

  Servicing or operating {apparatus or multistep processes} · CPC title

• H01M4/663

  containing carbon or carbonaceous materials as conductive part, e.g. graphite, carbon fibres · CPC title

• H01M4/1397

  of electrodes based on inorganic compounds other than oxides or hydroxides, e.g. sulfides, selenides, tellurides, halogenides or LiCoFy · CPC title

• H01M10/052

  Li-accumulators · CPC title