Production and use of flexible conductive films and inorganic layers in electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017179518-A1
Application number	US-201515300519-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 8, 2015
Priority date	Apr 8, 2014
Publication date	Jun 22, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to methods of making conductive films by associating an inorganic composition with an insulating substrate, and forming a porous inorganic layer from the inorganic composition on the insulating substrate. The inorganic layer may include a nanoporous metal layer, such as nickel fluoride. The methods of the present disclosure may also include a step of incorporating the conductive films into an electronic device. The methods of the present disclosure may also include a step of associating the conductive films with a solid electrolyte prior to its incorporation into an electronic device. The methods of the present disclosure may also include a step of separating the inorganic layer from the conductive film to form a freestanding inorganic layer. Further embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to the conductive films and freestanding inorganic layers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of making a conductive film for use as a component of an electronic device, said method comprising:
associating an inorganic composition with an insulating substrate; and forming an inorganic layer from the inorganic composition on the insulating substrate, wherein the formed inorganic layer is porous.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the insulating substrate comprises an insulating polymer.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the insulating polymer comprises poly(ethylene terephthalate).

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the insulating substrate is associated with one or more adhesion layers.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more adhesion layers are selected from the group consisting of chromium, titanium, nickel, and combinations thereof.

6 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising a step of associating the insulating substrate with one or more adhesion layers.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the insulating substrate is associated with one or more conductive layers.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the one or more conductive layers are selected from the group consisting of gold, aluminum, copper, platinum, silver, and combinations thereof.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising a step of associating the substrate with one or more conductive layers.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the insulating substrate is associated with the one or more conductive layers prior to associating the inorganic composition with the insulating substrate.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of cleaning the insulating substrate prior to associating the inorganic composition with the insulating substrate.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the insulating substrate is associated with one or more adhesion layers and one or more conductive layers, and wherein the one or more adhesion layers are below the one or more conductive layers.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the associating occurs by a method selected from the group consisting of sputtering, spraying, electrodeposition, printing, electron beam evaporation, thermal evaporation, atomic layer deposition, and combinations thereof.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the associating occurs by electrochemical deposition.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic composition is selected from the group consisting of metals, transition metals, metal oxides, transition metal oxides, metal chalcogenides, metal halides, alloys thereof, and combinations thereof.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the inorganic layer comprises an anodic treatment of the inorganic composition.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the inorganic layer comprises a cathodic treatment of the inorganic composition.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic layer comprises the following formula:
MX n , wherein M is selected from the group consisting of metals, transition metals, alloys thereof, and combinations thereof; wherein X is selected from the group consisting of halides, oxides, chalcogenides, and combinations thereof; and wherein n is an integer ranging from 1 to 6.

19 . The method of claim 18 ,
wherein M is a metal selected from the group consisting of iron, nickel, cobalt, platinum, gold, aluminum, chromium, copper, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, rhodium, silicon, tantalum, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, zirconium, alloys thereof, and combinations thereof; wherein X is a halide selected from the group consisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and combinations thereof; and wherein n is an integer ranging from 1 to 6.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic layer comprises nickel fluoride (NiF 2 ).

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein inorganic layer comprises pores with diameters ranging from about 1 nm to about 50 nm.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic layer has a thickness ranging from about 1 nm to about 1 m.

23 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic layer has a thickness ranging from about 500 nm to about 1μm.

24 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic layer has a capacitance ranging from about 0.1 mF/cm 2 to about 1,000 mF/cm 2 .

25 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic layer has an energy density ranging from about 0.1 Wh/kg to about 500 Wh/kg.

26 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic layer has a power density ranging from about 1 kW/kg to about 50 kW/kg.

27 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the formed conductive film has a thickness ranging from about 1 μm to about 1 m.

28 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the formed conductive film has a thickness ranging from about 100 μm to about 200 μm.

29 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of incorporating the conductive film into an electronic device.

30 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the electronic device is selected from the group consisting of energy storage devices, electrodes, electrode systems, batteries, lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, electrochemical capacitors, microsupercapacitors, pseudocapacitors, electric double-layer capacitors, fuel cells, micro-circuits, semi-conductors, transistors, portable electronic devices, flexible electronic devices, and combinations thereof.

31 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the electronic device has an energy density ranging from about 10 Wh/kg to about 500 Wh/kg.

32 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the electronic device has a capacitance ranging from about 1 mF/cm 2 to about 1,000 mF/cm 2 .

33 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the electronic device has a power density ranging from about 1 kW/kg to about 200 kW/kg.

34 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of associating the conductive film with a solid electrolyte.

35 . The method of claim 34 , wherein the solid electrolyte is positioned above the inorganic layer.

36 . The method of claim 35 , further comprising a step of associating the solid electrolyte with a second conductive film, wherein the second conductive film is positioned above the solid electrolyte, and wherein the inorganic layer of the second conductive film is directly associated with the solid electrolyte.

37 . The method of claim 34 , further comprising a step of incorporating the conductive film into an electronic device.

38 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of separating the inorganic layer from the conductive film.

39 . The method of claim 38 , wherein the separated inorganic layer is freestanding.

40 . A conductive film for use as a component of an electronic device, wherein the conductive film comprises:
an insulating substrate; and an inorganic layer associated with the insulating substrate, wherein the inorganic layer is porous.

41 . The conductive film of claim 40 , wherein the insulating substrate comprises an insulating polymer.

42 . The conductive film of claim 41 , wherein the insulating polymer comprises poly(ethylene terephthalate).

43 . The con

Assignees

• Univ Rice William M

Inventors

• Tour James M
• Yang Yang
• Ruan Gedeng

Classifications

• C23C30/00

  Coating with metallic material characterised only by the composition of the metallic material, i.e. not characterised by the coating process (C23C26/00, C23C28/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01M4/582

  Halogenides · CPC title

• H01G9/025

  Solid electrolytes (H01G11/54 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C25D11/04

  of aluminium or alloys based thereon · CPC title

• Y02E60/13

  Energy storage using capacitors · CPC title