Electrode Designs for High Energy Density, Efficiency, and Capacity in Rechargeable Alkaline Batteries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018323429-A1
Application number	US-201615771802-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 28, 2016
Priority date	Oct 29, 2015
Publication date	Nov 8, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A secondary alkaline battery includes an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte. The cathode includes a current collector, a cathode mixture in electrical contact with the current collector. The cathode mixture comprises: manganese oxide, a copper compound comprising copper, a salt of copper, an alloy thereof, or any combination thereof, a bismuth compound comprising bismuth, a salt of bismuth, or any combination thereof, and a conductive carbon. The secondary alkaline battery can also include a first composition in contact with the current collector and disposed between the current collector and the cathode mixture that includes copper, a salt of copper, an alloy thereof, or a combination thereof.

First claim

1 . A secondary alkaline battery comprising:
an anode; a cathode; and an electrolyte, wherein the cathode comprises:
a current collector;
a cathode mixture in electrical contact with the current collector, wherein the cathode mixture comprises:
manganese oxide;
a copper compound comprising copper, a salt of copper, an alloy thereof, or any combination thereof;
a bismuth compound comprising bismuth, a salt of bismuth, or any combination thereof; and
a conductive carbon.

2 . The secondary alkaline battery of claim 1 , further comprising a first composition in contact with the current collector and disposed between the current collector and the cathode mixture, wherein the first composition consists essentially of copper, a salt of copper, an alloy thereof, or a combination thereof.

3 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the manganese oxide (MnO 2 ) is selected from the group consisting of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD), chemically modified manganese oxide (CMD), birnessite (δ) MnO 2 , alpha (α) MnO 2 , beta (β) MnO 2 , epsilon (ε) MnO 2 , lambda (λ) MnO 2 , and gamma (γ) MnO 2 .

4 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the copper compound is copper (I) oxide, copper (II) oxide, a copper hydroxide, a copper nitrate or a copper chloride, a gliding metal, cartridge brass, phosphor bronze, yellow or high brass, manganese bronze, naval brass, muntz metal, aluminium bronze, beryllium copper, free-cutting brass, nickel silver, cupronickel, ounce metal, compositional metal, gunmetal or red brass.

5 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the copper compound is present in the cathode mixture as a powder.

6 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the bismuth compound is a bismuth oxide, a bismuth hydroxide, a bismuth nitrate, a bismuth chloride, or any combination thereof.

7 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the bismuth compound is present in the cathode mixture as a powder.

8 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the cathode mixture further comprises a binder, wherein the binder is free of polytetrafluoroethylene.

9 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the cathode mixture further comprises a binder, wherein the binder is a cellulose-based hydrogel that is cross-linked with a polymer.

10 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 9 , wherein the cellulose-based hydrogel is methyl cellulose (MC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC), hydroxyethylmethyl cellulose (HEMC), carboxymethylhydroxyethyl cellulose or hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC).

11 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 9 , wherein the polymer is selected from the group consisting polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylacetate, polyaniline, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinylidene fluoride and polypyrrole.

12 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the conductive carbon is TIMREX Primary Synthetic Graphite, TIMREX Natural Flake Graphite, TIMREX Dispersions; ENASCO 150G, 210G, 250G, 260G, 350G, 150P, 250P; SUPER P, SUPER P Li, carbon black, acetylene black, single walled carbon nanotubes, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, or graphene.

13 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the cathode mixture further comprises a binder, and wherein the manganese oxide (MnO 2 ) is present in the cathode mixture in a concentration of between 0-95 wt. %, the copper compound is present in the cathode mixture in a concentration of between 0-95%, the bismuth compound is present in the cathode mixture in a concentration of between 0-95 wt. %, the conductive carbon is present in the cathode mixture in a concentration of between 5-95 wt. % and the binder is present in the cathode mixture in a concentration of between 1-10 wt. %.

14 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the cathode is a pasted electrode or a rolled electrode.

15 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , further comprising a polymeric separator disposed between the cathode and the anode.

16 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 1 , wherein the current collector is nickel, nickel-coated steel, tin-coated steel, copper plated nickel mesh, copper plated nickel foil, nickel plated copper mesh, nickel plated copper foil, silver coated copper mesh, silver coated copper foil, copper, magnesium, aluminum, tin, iron or a mesh with half nickel and half copper.

17 . A secondary alkaline battery comprising:
an anode; and a cathode, wherein the cathode comprises:
a current collector; and
a cathode mixture electrically coupled to the current collector, wherein the cathode mixture comprises:
manganese oxide (MnO 2 );
a metal compound comprising: tin, a salt of tin, aluminum, a salt of aluminum, iron, a salt of iron, magnesium, a salt of magnesium, vanadium, a salt of vanadium, or any combination thereof;
a bismuth compound comprising bismuth, a salt of bismuth, or any combination thereof; and
a conductive carbon.

18 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 17 , further comprising a first composition comprising copper, a salt of copper, an alloy thereof, or any combination thereof disposed between the cathode mixture and the current collector.

19 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 18 , wherein the metal compound and its salts can be in powder form or metallic form.

20 . The secondary alkaline battery claim 17 , where the current collector is plated with copper, a copper alloy, or any combination thereof.

21 . A battery comprising an electrode comprising
a metal substrate that is at least partially plated by copper, a copper alloy, or any combination thereof; a positive electrode comprising a cathode material, wherein the cathode material comprises a manganese compound and a bismuth compound; a negative electrode comprising an anode material, wherein the anode material comprises zinc, a zinc compound, or any combination thereof; an alkaline electrolyte; and a polymeric separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; wherein the metal substrate is permeable to the alkaline electrolyte on a side of the metal substrate facing the polymeric separator, and wherein the metal substrate is in electrical contact with either the cathode material or the anode material.

22 . The battery of claim 21 , wherein the cathode material is selected from the group consisting of: manganese dioxide mixed with bismuth, a bismuth derivative mixed with conductive carbon, copper, and any combination thereof.

23 . The battery of claim 21 , wherein the anode material comprises zinc mixed with zinc oxide and a binder.

24 . The battery of claim 21 , wherein the manganese compound is selected from the group consisting of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD), chemically modified manganese oxide (CMD), birnessite (δ), alpha (α), beta (β), epsilon (ε), lambda (λ), gamma (γ) forms of MnO 2 , and any combination thereof.

25 . The battery of claim 21 , wherein the metal substrate forms a pocket-shaped assembly, and wherein the pocket-shaped assembly encloses either the cathode material or the anode material which is in electrical contact with the metal substrate.

26 . The battery of claim 25 , wherein a metal of the metal substrate is nickel, nickel plated on steel, iron, aluminum, magnesium, gliding metal, cartridge brass, phosphor bronze, yellow or high brass, manganese bronze, naval brass, muntz

Assignees

• Univ City New York Res Found

Inventors

• Yadav Gautam G
• Nyce Michael
• Banerjee Sanjoy

Classifications

• H01M4/626

  Metals · CPC title

• H01M4/244

  Zinc electrodes · CPC title

• H01M4/50 Primary

  of manganese · CPC title

• H01M4/622

  being polymers · CPC title

• H01M10/24

  Alkaline accumulators · CPC title