Alkali Metal Battery Having a Deformable Quasi-Solid Electrode Material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018342737-A1
Application number	US-201715604607-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 24, 2017
Priority date	May 24, 2017
Publication date	Nov 29, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is an alkali metal cell comprising: (a) a quasi-solid cathode containing about 30% to about 95% by volume of a cathode active material, about 5% to about 40% by volume of a first electrolyte containing an alkali salt dissolved in a solvent, and about 0.01% to about 30% by volume of a conductive additive wherein the conductive additive, containing conductive filaments, forms a 3D network of electron-conducting pathways such that the quasi-solid electrode has an electrical conductivity from about 10 −6 S/cm to about 300 S/cm; (b) an anode; and (c) an ion-conducting membrane or porous separator disposed between the anode and the quasi-solid cathode; wherein the quasi-solid cathode has a thickness from 200 m to 100 cm and a cathode active material having an active material mass loading greater than 10 mg/cm 2 .

First claim

We claim:

1 . An alkali metal cell comprising:
(a) a quasi-solid cathode containing about 30% to about 95% by volume of a cathode active material, about 5% to about 40% by volume of a first electrolyte containing an alkali salt dissolved in a solvent, and about 0.01% to about 30% by volume of a conductive additive wherein said conductive additive, containing conductive filaments, forms a 3D network of electron-conducting pathways such that the quasi-solid electrode has an electrical conductivity from about 10 −6 S/cm to about 300 S/cm; (b) an anode; and (c) an ion-conducting membrane or porous separator disposed between the anode and the quasi-solid cathode; wherein the quasi-solid cathode has a thickness no less than 200 μm.

2 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said anode contains a quasi-solid anode containing about 30% to about 95% by volume of an anode active material, about 5% to about 40% by volume of a second electrolyte containing an alkali salt dissolved in a solvent, and about 0.01% to about 30% by volume of a conductive additive wherein said conductive additive, containing conductive filaments, forms a 3D network of electron-conducting pathways such that the quasi-solid electrode has an electrical conductivity from about 10 −6 S/cm to about 300 S/cm; wherein said quasi-solid anode has a thickness no less than 200 μm.

3 . An alkali metal cell comprising:
(a) a quasi-solid anode containing about 30% to about 95% by volume of an anode active material, about 5% to about 40% by volume of an electrolyte containing an alkali salt dissolved in a solvent, and about 0.01% to about 30% by volume of a conductive additive wherein said conductive additive, containing conductive filaments, forms a 3D network of electron-conducting pathways such that the quasi-solid electrode has an electrical conductivity from about 10 −6 S/cm to about 300 S/cm; (b) a cathode; and (c) an ion-conducting membrane or porous separator disposed between the anode and the quasi-solid cathode; wherein said quasi-solid cathode has a thickness no less than 200 μm.

4 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said first electrolyte is a quasi-solid electrolyte containing a lithium salt or sodium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent with a salt concentration no less than 2.5 M.

5 . The alkali metal cell of claim 2 , wherein said first electrolyte or second electrolyte is a quasi-solid electrolyte containing a lithium salt or sodium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent with a salt concentration no less than 2.5 M.

6 . The alkali metal cell of claim 3 , wherein said electrolyte is a quasi-solid electrolyte containing a lithium salt or sodium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent with a salt concentration no less than 2.5 M

7 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said first electrolyte is a quasi-solid electrolyte containing a lithium salt or sodium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent with a salt concentration from 3.0 M to 14 M.

8 . The alkali metal cell of claim 2 , wherein said first electrolyte or second electrolyte is a quasi-solid electrolyte containing a lithium salt or sodium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent with a salt concentration from 3.0 M to 14 M.

9 . The alkali metal cell of claim 3 , wherein said electrolyte is a quasi-solid electrolyte containing a lithium salt or sodium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent with a salt concentration from 3.0 M to 14 M.

10 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said conductive filaments are selected from carbon fibers, graphite fibers, carbon nano-fibers, graphite nano-fibers, carbon nanotubes, needle coke, carbon whiskers, conductive polymer fibers, conductive material-coated fibers, metal nano-wires, metal fibers, metal wires, graphene sheets, expanded graphite platelets, a combination thereof, or a combination thereof with non-filamentary conductive particles.

11 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said electrode maintains an electrical conductivity from about 10 −5 S/cm to about 100 S/cm.

12 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said electrode maintains an electrical conductivity from about 10 −3 S/cm to about 10 S/cm.

13 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said electrode maintains an electrical conductivity from about 10 −2 S/cm to about 10 S/cm.

14 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said conductive filaments are bonded together by a resin at points of intersection between the conductive filaments.

15 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said quasi-solid cathode contains about 0.1% to about 20% by volume of a conductive additive.

16 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said quasi-solid cathode contains about 1% to about 10% by volume of a conductive additive.

17 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein the quantity of the active material is about 40% to about 90% by volume of the electrode material.

18 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein the quantity of the active material is about 50% to about 85% by volume of the electrode material.

19 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein the quantity of the active material is about 50% to about 75% by volume of the electrode material.

20 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said first electrolyte is in a supersaturated state.

21 . The alkali metal cell of claim 2 , wherein said first electrolyte or second electrolyte is in a supersaturated state.

22 . The alkali metal cell of claim 1 , wherein said first electrolyte contains an aqueous liquid, an organic solvent, an ionic liquid, or a mixture of an organic solvent and an ionic liquid.

23 . The alkali metal cell of claim 2 , wherein said first electrolyte or second electrolyte contains an aqueous liquid, an organic solvent, an ionic liquid, or a mixture of an organic solvent and an ionic liquid.

24 . The alkali metal cell of claim 2 , wherein said alkali metal cell is a lithium metal cell, lithium-ion cell, or lithium-ion capacitor cell and said anode active material is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) particles of lithium metal or a lithium metal alloy; (b) natural graphite particles, artificial graphite particles, meso-carbon microbeads (MCMB), carbon particles, needle coke, carbon nanotubes, carbon nano-fibers, carbon fibers, and graphite fibers; (c) silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), zinc (Zn), aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), titanium (Ti), iron (Fe), and cadmium (Cd); (d) alloys or intermetallic compounds of Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Zn, Al, or Cd with other elements, wherein said alloys or compounds are stoichiometric or non-stoichiometric; (e) oxides, carbides, nitrides, sulfides, phosphides, selenides, and tellurides of Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Zn, Al, Fe, Ni, Co, Ti, Mn, or Cd, and their mixtures or composites; (f) pre-lithiated versions thereof; (g) pre-lithiated graphene sheets; and combinations thereof.

25 . The alkali metal cell of claim 24 , wherein said pre-lithiated graphene sheets are selected from pre-lithiated versions of pristine graphene, graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, boron-doped graphene, nitrogen-doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, a physically or chemically activated or etched version thereof, or a combination there

Assignees

• Nanotek Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z

Classifications

• H01M10/26

  Selection of materials as electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M4/381

  Alkaline or alkaline earth metals elements (H01M4/40 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M4/40

  Alloys based on alkali metals · CPC title

• H01M4/9033

  Complex oxides, optionally doped, of the type M1MeO3, M1 being an alkaline earth metal or a rare earth, Me being a metal, e.g. perovskites · CPC title

• H01M2004/021

  Physical characteristics, e.g. porosity, surface area · CPC title