Early-Life Diagnostics For Fast Battery Formation Protocols And Their Impacts To Long-Term Aging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023029405-A1
Application number	US-202217859390-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 7, 2022
Priority date	Jul 8, 2021
Publication date	Jan 26, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for optimizing the formation protocol of a battery. The method can include the steps of: (a) providing a battery cell structure comprising an anode, an electrolyte, and a cathode including cations that move from the cathode to the anode during charging; (b) performing a first charge of the battery cell structure using a predetermined formation protocol to create a formed battery cell; and (c) determining a cell internal resistance of the formed battery cell. Therefore, one can compare the cell internal resistances of two battery cells formed by using identical battery cell structures and different formation protocols, and select a formation protocol if the first cell internal resistance of a first formed battery is greater than or less than the second cell internal resistance of a second formed battery.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for forming a battery, the method comprising:
(a) providing a battery cell structure comprising an anode, an electrolyte, and a cathode including cations that move from the cathode to the anode during charging; and (b) performing a first charge of the battery cell structure using a predetermined formation protocol to create a formed battery cell, wherein the predetermined formation protocol is determined by:
(i) determining a first cell internal resistance of a first reference battery cell formed by using a first cell structure identical to the battery cell structure and performing a first initial charge of the first cell structure using a first formation protocol,
(ii) determining a second cell internal resistance of a second reference battery cell formed by using a second cell structure identical to the battery cell structure and performing a second initial charge of the second cell structure using a second formation protocol, wherein the second formation protocol is different from the first formation protocol, and
(iii) selecting the predetermined formation protocol to correspond to the first formation protocol if the first cell internal resistance is greater than or less than the second cell internal resistance, and selecting the predetermined formation protocol to correspond to the second formation protocol if the second cell internal resistance is greater than or less than the first cell internal resistance.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the predetermined formation protocol is selected to correspond to the first formation protocol if the first cell internal resistance is less than the second cell internal resistance, and the predetermined formation protocol is selected to correspond to the second formation protocol if the second cell internal resistance is less than the first cell internal resistance.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first cell internal resistance and the second cell internal resistance are determined using a direct current resistance measurement.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first cell internal resistance and the second cell internal resistance are determined using an alternating current resistance measurement.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the battery cell structure provided in step (a) lacks a solid electrolyte interphase between the electrolyte and the anode.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first cell internal resistance of the first reference battery cell is determined at a first state of charge of the first reference battery cell of 15% or lower, and
the second cell internal resistance of the second reference battery cell is determined at a second state of charge of the second reference battery cell of 15% or lower, wherein the first state of charge and the second state of charge are the same.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first cell internal resistance of the first reference battery cell is determined using a first series of discharge pulses, and
the second cell internal resistance of the second reference battery cell is determined using a second series of discharge pulses, wherein the first series of discharge pulses and the second series of discharge pulses are the same.

8 . The method of claim 7 wherein:
the discharge pulses have a pulse duration less than 1 minute.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first cell internal resistance of the first reference battery cell is determined using a first series of charge pulses, and
the second cell internal resistance of the second reference battery cell is determined using a second series of charge pulses, wherein the first series of charge pulses and the second series of charge pulses are the same.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein:
the charge pulses have a pulse duration less than 1 minute.

11 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first cell internal resistance of the first reference battery cell is determined before a second charge of the first reference battery cell, and
the second cell internal resistance of the second reference battery cell is determined before a second charge of the second reference battery cell.

12 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
the cations are lithium cations.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein:
the anode comprises an anode material selected from graphite, lithium titanium oxide, hard carbon, tin/cobalt alloys, silicon/carbon, or lithium metal,
the electrolyte comprises a liquid electrolyte including a lithium compound in an organic solvent, and
the cathode comprises a cathode active material selected from (i) lithium metal oxides wherein the metal is one or more aluminum, cobalt, iron, manganese, nickel and vanadium, (ii) lithium-containing phosphates having a general formula LiMPO 4 wherein M is one or more of cobalt, iron, manganese, and nickel, and (iii) materials having a formula LiNi x Mn y Co z O 2 , wherein x+y+z=1 and x:y:z=1:1:1 (NMC 111), x:y:z=4:3:3 (NMC 433), x:y:z=5:2:2 (NMC 522), x:y:z=5:3:2 (NMC 532), x:y:z=6:2:2 (NMC 622), or x:y:z=8:1:1 (NMC 811).

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein:
the anode comprises graphite,
the lithium compound is selected from LiPF 6 , LiBF 4 , LiClO 4 , lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI), LiN(CF 3 SO 2 ) 2 (LiTFSI), and LiCF 3 SO 3 (LiTf),
the organic solvent is selected from carbonate based solvents, ether based solvents, ionic liquids, and mixtures thereof,
the carbonate based solvent is selected from the group consisting of dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, ethyl methyl carbonate, dipropyl carbonate, methylpropyl carbonate, ethylpropyl carbonate, methylethyl carbonate, ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, and butylene carbonate, and mixtures thereof, and
the ether based solvent is selected from the group consisting of diethyl ether, dibutyl ether, monoglyme, diglyme, tetraglyme, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, tetrahydrofuran, 1,3-dioxolane, 1,2-dimethoxyethane, and 1,4-dioxane and mixtures thereof.

15 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
a charging current of the predetermined formation protocol is based at least in part on a percentage of a capacity of the formed battery cell.

16 . A method for predicting cycle life of a battery, the method comprising:
(a) providing a battery cell structure comprising an anode, an electrolyte, and a cathode including cations that move from the cathode to the anode during charging; (b) performing a first charge of the battery cell structure using a predetermined formation protocol to create a formed battery cell; (c) determining a cell internal resistance of the formed battery cell; and (d) comparing the cell internal resistance of the formed battery cell to a characteristic curve of measured or model predicted cycle life versus cell internal resistance of reference battery cells formed by using cell structures identical to the battery cell structure and reference formation protocols different from the predetermined formation protocol.

17 . The method of claim 16 wherein:
the cell internal resistance is determined using a direct current resistance measurement.

18 . The method of claim 16 wherein:
the cell internal resistance is determined using an alternating current resistance measurement.

19 . The method of claim 16 wherein:
the battery cell structure provided in step (a) lacks a solid electrolyte interphase between the electrolyte and the anode.

20 . The method of claim 16 wherein:
the cell internal resistance of the formed ba

Assignees

• Univ Michigan Regents

Inventors

• Stefanopoulou Anna G
• Weng Andrew
• Mohtat Peyman
• Attia Peter M
• Sulzer Valentin
• Lee Suhak
• Less Greg

Classifications

• H01M10/48

  Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte (constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569) · CPC title

• G01R31/367 Primary

  Software therefor, e.g. for battery testing using modelling or look-up tables · CPC title

• G01R31/389 Primary

  Measuring internal impedance, internal conductance or related variables · CPC title

• H01M10/446

  Initial charging measures · CPC title

• G01R31/396

  Acquisition or processing of data for testing or for monitoring individual cells or groups of cells within a battery · CPC title