Metal-oxygen battery and method of use thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025323288-A1
Application number	US-202519175169-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 10, 2025
Priority date	Apr 10, 2024
Publication date	Oct 16, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A metal-oxygen battery system, including: an electrochemical cell including a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and an energy storage reactor in fluid communication with the negative electrode; a gas store in fluid communication with the positive electrode, the gas store configured to store oxygen; and a fuel gauge configured to determine a state of charge, wherein the gas store and the positive electrode form a closed system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A metal-oxygen battery system, comprising:
an electrochemical cell comprising
a positive electrode,
a negative electrode, and
an electrolyte between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and
an energy storage reactor in fluid communication with the negative electrode; a gas store in fluid communication with the positive electrode, the gas store configured to store oxygen; and a fuel gauge configured to determine a state of charge, wherein the gas store and the positive electrode form a closed system.

2 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 ,
wherein the gas store comprises a barrier, and the fuel gauge is configured to determine a state of charge based on a position of the barrier; wherein the metal-oxygen battery system is configured to generate an automatic gas flow between the positive electrode and the gas store; wherein the gas store comprises a barrier, and wherein the oxygen in the gas store is configured to be pressure balanced with a support gas that is disposed in the gas store on a side of the barrier opposite the oxygen; further comprising a gas store fuel gauge configured to sense a pressure or a mass of the support gas in the gas store; further comprising a valve disposed between the gas store and the positive electrode; wherein the gas store comprises a barrier, and further comprising a processor configured to receive information relating to the position of the barrier and to determine the state of charge based on the position of the barrier; wherein at least one of the energy storage reactor and the electrochemical cell are disposed in a thermal chamber; or a combination thereof.

3 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the gas store comprises a first compartment and a second compartment, wherein the oxygen is stored in the first compartment and the support gas is disposed in the second compartment, wherein the first compartment and the second compartment are separated by a barrier.

4 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 3 ,
wherein the first compartment and the second compartment are configured to be pressure balanced; wherein the barrier is configured to maintain a same pressure in the first compartment and the second compartment; wherein the barrier is a movable piston, a moveable partition, a flexible diaphragm, an elastic diaphragm, an inflatable bladder, or a combination thereof; or a combination thereof.

5 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the gas store comprises a barrier, a first compartment, and a second compartment, wherein the oxygen is stored in the first compartment and a support gas is disposed in the second compartment, and wherein the barrier is an elastic diaphragm that expands into the first compartment or the second compartment.

6 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 ,
wherein the energy storage reactor comprises a metal store, and further comprising a metal store fuel gauge configured to sense a mass of the metal in the metal store, a volume of the metal in the metal store, or a combination thereof, wherein the metal store is in fluid communication with the energy storage reactor, wherein the metal is iron, tin, tungsten, cobalt, zinc, molybdenum, cadmium, copper, lead, or a combination thereof.

7 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical cell is configured to operate in a passive mode without a pump, a compressor, a blower, a condenser, or a combination thereof, or
wherein the electrochemical cell is configured to operate in an active mode and comprises a pump, a compressor, a blower, a condenser, or a combination thereof, and further comprising a pressure drop fuel gauge configured to sense a pressure drop across the energy storage reactor.

8 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte comprises a solid oxide electrolyte, a molten carbonate electrolyte, or a combination thereof.

9 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein positive electrode comprises lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite, strontium-doped lanthanum manganate, strontium oxide and bismuth oxide doped with lanthanum manganate, lanthanum strontium cobaltite, barium strontium iron cobaltite, strontium doped hafnium oxide, europium cobaltite, or a combination thereof.

10 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the negative electrode comprises nickel oxide, cerium oxide, copper oxide, strontium titanate, yttrium oxide doped strontium titanate, thorium oxide doped strontium titanate, or a combination thereof.

11 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , further comprising a heat exchanger configured to exchange heat between the energy storage reactor and the electrochemical cell.

12 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage reactor is:
configured to convert a metal to a metal oxide and hydrogen in a discharge mode; and configured to convert the metal oxide to the metal and water in a charge mode.

13 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage reactor is:
configured to convert a metal to a metal oxide and carbon monoxide in a discharge mode; and configured to convert the metal oxide to the metal and carbon dioxide in a charge mode.

14 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical cell comprises a plurality of electrochemical cells, wherein each electrochemical cell of the plurality of electrochemical cells is in electrical contact with an external circuit.

15 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 14 , wherein at least one electrochemical cell of the plurality of electrochemical cells is a removable electrochemical cell.

16 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 15 ,
wherein the at least one removable electrochemical cell is configured to be selectively isolated from the metal-oxygen battery system; wherein the at least one removable electrochemical cell is configured to be selectively isolated from the gas store; wherein the metal-oxygen battery system is configured to operate when the at least one removable electrochemical cells is isolated from the system and at least one electrochemical cell is not isolated from the system; or a combination thereof.

17 . The metal-oxygen battery system of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage reactor is:
disposed within a compartment of a negative electrode of the electrochemical cell; disposed in a separate compartment from the electrochemical cell; or disposed in an interconnect, wherein the energy storage reactor comprises a plurality of electrochemical cells that are connected via the interconnect.

18 . A battery fuel gauge configured to determine a state of charge of a metal-oxygen battery,
wherein the battery fuel gauge comprises a processor configured to receive information relating to a position of a barrier of a gas store and to determine the state of charge based on the position of the barrier; wherein the metal-oxygen battery comprises: an electrochemical cell comprising
a positive electrode,
a negative electrode, and
an electrolyte between the positive electrode and the negative electrode;
an energy storage reactor in fluid communication with the negative electrode; and the gas store in fluid communication with the positive electrode, the gas store configured to store oxygen, wherein the gas store comprises the barrier, wherein the gas store and the positive electrode of the electrochemical cell form a closed system, or a system wit

Assignees

• Form Energy Inc

Inventors

• Manser Joseph S
• Reynolds Christopher Thomas
• Su Liang
• Perkins Nicholas

Classifications

• H01M10/399

  Cells with molten salts · CPC title

• H01M10/39

  working at high temperature · CPC title

• H01M8/04604

  Power, energy, capacity or load · CPC title

• H01M8/04089 Primary

  of gaseous reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/186

  by electrolytic decomposition of the electrolytic solution or the formed water product · CPC title