Thin flexible rechargeable electrochemical energy cell and method of fabrication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9484155-B2
Application number	US-50582309-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2009
Priority date	Jul 18, 2008
Publication date	Nov 1, 2016
Grant date	Nov 1, 2016

Abstract

A thin, rechargeable, flexible electrochemical energy cell includes a battery cell, or a capacitor cell, or a battery/capacitor hybrid cell that can be stackable in any number and order. The cell can be based on a powdery mixture of hydrated ruthenium oxide particles or nanoparticles with activated carbon particles or nanoparticles suspended in an electrolyte. The electrolyte may contain ethylene glycol, boric acid, citric acid, ammonium hydroxide, organic acids, phosphoric acid, and/or sulphuric acid. An anode electrode may be formed with a thin layer of oxidizable metal (Zn, Al, or Pb). The cathode may be formed with a graphite backing foil. The energy cell may have a voltage at or below 1.25V for recharging. The thickness 15 of the cell structure can be in the range of 0.5 mm-1 mm, or lower.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A rechargeable electrochemical energy cell, comprising:
at least one rechargeable battery cell including:
an anode electrode unit having a layer of zinc(Zn) or lead a cathode electrode unit; and
a first electrolyte body sandwiched between said anode and cathode electrode units, wherein said cathode electrode unit includes a cathode material comprising a powder mixture of a powder of RuO 2 ×H 2 O with activated carbon (AC) particles or nanoparticles suspended in a second electrolyte body,
wherein said at le at one rechargeable battery cell is flexibly bendable and twistable, and
wherein said anode electrode unit includes an anode material substantially free of ruthenium oxide.

2. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 1 , further comprising:
a permeable electrically insulating separator layer saturated with said first electrolyte body, said separator layer being sandwiched between said anode and cathode electrode units contiguous to said cathode material and a material of the anode electrode unit.

3. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 2 , wherein said separator layer comprises a material that is porous to ions in liquid and is electrically non-conductive.

4. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 2 , wherein said separator layer comprises a glass fiber filter paper, a cleanroom-grade tissue paper, or styrene-grafted fluorinated ethylene polypropylene.

5. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 1 , wherein a volume ratio of the powder content of RuO 2 ×H 2 O to the powder content of AC in said powder mixture varies in a range from 10:1 volume ratio to 1:10 volume ratio.

6. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 1 , wherein a volume ratio of the powder content of RuO 2 ×H 2 O to the powder content of AC in said powder mixture is 50%:50%.

7. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 1 , wherein each of said first and second electrolyte bodies has pH in the range of 3 to 6.5.

8. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 7 , wherein each of said first and second electrolyte bodies includes materials from the group of materials consisting of:
ethylene glycol, boric acid, citric acid, ammonium hydroxide, organic acids, phosphoric acid, and sulphuric acid.

9. The rechargeable electroehemical energy cell of claim 8 , wherein each of said first and second electrolyte bodies is a solution including a mixture of materials comprising approximately 45% of ethylene glycol, 37% of boric acid, 18% citric acid, and 0.5 mL animonium hydroxide per 100 ml of said solution.

10. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 1 , further comprising a backing layer of conductive graphite, said cathode material being spread on a predetermined area of said backing layer of conductive graphite.

11. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 1 , further comprising a positive lead contact and a negative lead contact, each electrically connected to respective of said cathode electrode unit and said anode electrode units.

12. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 1 , further comprising at least one capacitor cell electrically coupled to said at least one rechargeable cell, thereby forming a batter/capacitor hybrid structure, said at least one capacitor cell including:
a pair of graphite layers,
a second paste having a powder made of RuO 2 ×H 2 O particles or nanoparticles, and activated carbon (AC) particles or nanoparticles suspended in an electrolyte, said second paste being dispersed on a predetermined area of each of said graphite layers, and an insulting layer sandwiched between said graphite layers.

13. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 12 , wherein said at least one capacitor cell further includes first and second contacts, each electrically coupled to a respective one of said pair of graphite layers.

14. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 12 , wherein said graphite layers have corrugation formed on a surface thereof underlying said second paste.

15. The rechargeable electrochemical energy cell of claim 1 , wherein a range of a thickness of the rechargeable electrochemical energy cell is 1 mm or lower.

16. An energy storage cell, comprising;
a pair of graphite layers; and
a dielectric layer sandwiched there between,
wherein a respective surface of each of said graphite layers is formed with corrugation disposed substantially on said respective surface in a non-contact relationship with a surface of said each graphite layer opposite to said respective surface and covered with a paste containing a powder selected from the group consisting of: RuO 2 ×H 2 O particles or nanoparticles, and activated carbon (AC) particles or nanoparticles, suspended in an electrolyte, and
wherein said energy storage cell is flexible bendable and twistable.

17. The energy storage cell of claim 16 , wherein the dielectric layer comprises a cellulous porous insulator.

18. The energy storage cell of claim 16 , wherein a thickness of the energy storage cell is 0.5 mm or less.

19. An electrochemical battery cell comprising:
an anode electrode layer;
a cathode electrode layer; and
a first electrolyte body sandwiched between the anode and the electrode layers, wherein the cathode electrode layer includes a cathode material having at least a powder mixture of a powder of RuO 2 ×H 2 O with activated carbon (AC) particles or nanoparticles suspended in a second electrolyte body, wherein the electrochemical cell is flexibly bendable and twistable to assume a nor-planar shape,
wherein the electrochemical cell is configured for a reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction to generate power at a surface of one of the electrode layers, and
wherein said anode electrode layer includes an anode material substantially free of said powder of oxide included in said cathode material and wherein at least one of the cathode and electrode layers has a layer of lead (Pb) or zinc (Zn).

20. The electrochemical cell of claim 19 , wherein the electrochemical cell is 1 mm or less in thickness.

21. The electrochemical cell of claim 19 , wherein the electrochemical cell is less than 4 grams.

22. The electrochemical cell of claim 19 , wherein the first electrolyte body is PH-neutral, and wherein said first electrolyte body includes materials from the group of materials consisting of:
ethylene glycol, boric acid, citric acid, ammonium hydroxide, organic acids, phosphoric acid, and sulfuric acid.

23. The electrochemical cell of claim 19 , wherein the anode electrode layer comprises aluminum (Al).

24. The electrochemical cell of claim 19 , further comprising a separator layer sandwiched between the anode and cathode electrode layers, wherein the separator layer comprises a material that is porous to ions in liquid and is electrically non-conductive.

25. The electrochemical cell of claim 19 , wherein a shape of the electrochemical cell and positions of the electrode layers on the electrochemical cell are configured for stacking with another electrochemical cell to electrically form a serial or parallel connection with the other electrochemical cell upon stacking.

26. The electrochemical cell of claim 19 , wherein the oxide comprises manganese oxide.

27. An electrochemical cell comprising:
A hybrid battery/capacitor structure including a battery cell and a

Assignees

• Peckerar Martin C
• Goldsman Neil
• Ngu Yves
• Dilli Zeynep
• Metze George M
• Univ Maryland
• Nat Security Agency

Inventors

• Peckerar Martin C
• Goldsman Neil
• Ngu Yves
• Dilli Zeynep
• Metze George M

Classifications

• H01M50/103

  prismatic or rectangular (H01M50/109, H01M50/11 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01G11/42

  Powders or particles, e.g. composition thereof · CPC title

• H01G11/02 Primary

  using combined reduction-oxidation reactions, e.g. redox arrangement or solion · CPC title

• H01G11/38

  Carbon pastes or blends; Binders or additives therein · CPC title

• H01G9/042 Primary

  characterised by the material (H01G11/22 takes precedence) · CPC title