Production process for alkali metal-sulfur batteries having high volumetric and gravimetric energy densities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017207488-A1
Application number	US-201614998513-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 15, 2016
Priority date	Jan 15, 2016
Publication date	Jul 20, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Process for producing an alkali metal-sulfur battery, comprising: (a) Preparing a first conductive porous structure; (b) Preparing a second conductive porous structure; (c) Injecting or impregnating a first suspension into pores of the first conductive porous structure to form an anode electrode, wherein the first suspension contains an anode active material, an optional conductive additive, and a first electrolyte; (d) Injecting or impregnating a second suspension into pores of the second conductive porous structure to form a cathode electrode, wherein the second suspension contains a cathode active material (selected from sulfur, lithium polysulfide, sodium polysulfide, sulfur-polymer composite, organo-sulfide, sulfur-carbon composite, sulfur-graphene composite, or a combination thereof), an optional conductive additive, and a second electrolyte; and (e) Assembling the anode electrode, a separator, and a cathode electrode into the battery.

First claim

1 . A process for producing an alkali metal-sulfur battery, wherein said alkali metal is selected from lithium (Li) and/or sodium (Na), said process comprising:
(a) Preparing a first conductive porous structure or first conductive foam layer; (b) Preparing a second conductive porous structure or second conductive foam layer; (c) Injecting or impregnating a first suspension into pores of said first conductive porous structure to form an anode electrode, wherein said first suspension contains an anode active material, an optional conductive additive, and a first liquid or gel electrolyte and wherein said anode electrode and said first conductive porous structure are similar or comparable in shape and dimensions; (d) Injecting or impregnating a second suspension into pores of said second conductive porous structure to form a cathode electrode, wherein said second suspension contains a cathode active material, an optional conductive additive, and a second liquid or gel electrolyte, wherein said cathode active material is selected from sulfur, lithium polysulfide, sodium polysulfide, sulfur-polymer composite, organo-sulfide, sulfur-carbon composite, sulfur-graphene composite, or a combination thereof; and wherein said cathode electrode and said second conductive porous structure are similar or comparable in shape and dimensions; and (e) Assembling said anode electrode, a separator, and a cathode electrode into said alkali metal-sulfur battery.

2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein said step (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) are conducted in the following sequence:
(A) Preparing said first suspension and said second suspension; (B) Assembling a porous cell framework composed of said first conductive porous structure as a porous anode current collector, said second conductive porous structure as a porous cathode current collector, and a porous separator disposed between said porous anode current collector and said porous cathode current collector; wherein said porous anode current collector and/or said porous cathode current collector has a thickness no less than 200 μm and at least 70% by volume of pores; and (C) Injecting said first suspension into pores of said anode current collector to form said anode electrode and injecting said second suspension into pores of said cathode current collector to form said cathode electrode to an extent that said anode active material has a material mass loading no less than 10 mg/cm 2 in said anode electrode or said cathode active material has a material mass loading no less than 15 mg/cm 2 in said cathode electrode;
wherein said anode current collector, said separator, and said cathode current collector are assembled in a protective housing before or after said injection or impregnation of first suspension and/or said injection or impregnation of second suspension.

3 . The process of claim 1 , wherein said step (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) are conducted in the following sequence:
(A) Preparing one or a plurality of electrically conductive porous layers, one or a plurality of wet anode layers of said first suspension, and one or a plurality of wet cathode layers of said second suspension, wherein said conductive porous layers contain interconnected conductive pathways and at least 70% by volume of pores; (B) Stacking and consolidating a desired number of said porous layers and a desired number of said wet anode layers in a sequence to form said anode electrode having a thickness no less than 200 μm; (C) Placing said porous separator layer in contact with said anode electrode; (D) Stacking and consolidating a desired number of said porous layers and a desired number of said wet cathode layers in a sequence to form said cathode electrode in contact with said porous separator, wherein said cathode electrode has a thickness no less than 200 μm; and (E) Assembling and sealing said anode electrode, porous separator, and cathode electrode in a housing to produce said alkali metal-sulfur battery; wherein said anode active material has a material mass loading no less than 20 mg/cm 2 in said anode electrode and/or said cathode active material has a material mass loading no less than 10 mg/cm 2 in said cathode electrode.

4 . A process for producing an alkali metal-sulfur battery, wherein said alkali metal is selected from lithium (Li) and/or sodium (Na), said process comprising:
(A) Assembling a porous cell framework composed of a first conductive porous structure as a cathode current collector, an anode current collector, and a porous separator disposed between said anode and cathode current collectors; wherein said first conductive porous structure has a thickness no less than 200 μm and at least 70% by volume of pores and said anode current collector has two opposed primary surfaces and at least one of the two primary surfaces contains a layer of sodium or lithium metal or alloy having at least 50% by weight of sodium or lithium element in said alloy; (B) Preparing a first suspension of a cathode active material dispersed in a first liquid electrolyte, wherein said cathode active material is selected from sulfur, lithium polysulfide, sodium polysulfide, sulfur-polymer composite, organo-sulfide, sulfur-carbon composite, sulfur-graphene composite, or a combination thereof; and (C) Injecting said first suspension into pores of said first conductive porous structure to form a cathode electrode to an extent that said cathode active material constitutes an electrode active material loading no less than 7 mg/cm 2 , and wherein said anode, said separator, and said cathode are assembled in a protective housing before or after said injecting step is conducted.

5 . A process for producing an alkali metal-sulfur battery, wherein said alkali metal is selected from lithium (Li) and/or sodium (Na), said process comprising:
(A) Preparing at least one or a plurality of electrically conductive porous structures, and one or a plurality of wet cathode layers of a cathode active material and an optional conductive additive mixed with a liquid electrolyte, wherein said cathode active material is selected from sulfur, lithium polysulfide, sodium polysulfide, sulfur-polymer composite, organo-sulfide, sulfur-carbon composite, sulfur-graphene composite, or a combination thereof, and wherein said conductive porous layers contain interconnected conductive pathways and at least 80% by volume of pores; (B) Preparing an anode electrode having an anode current collector that has two opposed primary surfaces wherein at least one of the two primary surfaces is deposited with a layer of alkali metal or alkali metal alloy having at least 50% by weight of Na and/or Li element in said alloy; (C) Placing a porous separator layer in contact with said anode electrode; (D) Stacking and consolidating a desired number of said porous layers and a desired number of said wet cathode layers in an alternating sequence to form a cathode electrode in contact with said porous separator, wherein said cathode electrode has a thickness no less than 200 μm; wherein said step (D) is conducted before or after step (B); and (E) Assembling and sealing said anode electrode, porous separator, and cathode electrode in a housing to produce said alkali metal battery;
wherein said cathode active material has a material mass loading no less than 10 mg/cm 2 in said cathode electrode.

6 . The process of claim 1 , wherein said cathode active material is selected from sulfur bonded to pore walls of said cathode current collector, sulfur bonded to or confined by a carbon or graphite material, sulfur bonded to or confined by a polymer, sulfur-carbon compound, metal sulfide M x S y , wherein x is an integer from 1 to 3 and y is an integer from 1 to 10, and M is a metal element selected from Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, a transition metal, a

Assignees

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z

Inventors

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z

Classifications

• H01M4/38

  of elements or alloys · CPC title

• H01M4/139

  Processes of manufacture · CPC title

• H01M4/808

  Foamed, spongy materials · CPC title

• H01M4/382

  Lithium (H01M4/405 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M4/0404

  by coating on electrode collectors · CPC title