Flexible and shape-conformal rope-shape alkali metal-sulfur batteries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9905856-B1
Application number	US-201615392213-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 28, 2016
Priority date	Dec 28, 2016
Publication date	Feb 27, 2018
Grant date	Feb 27, 2018

Abstract

Provided is a rope-shape alkali metal-sulfur battery having (a) a first electrode comprising a conductive porous rod and a mixture of a first electrode active material and a first electrolyte residing in pores of the first porous rod; (b) a porous separator wrapping around the first electrode to form a separator-protected first electrode; (c) a second electrode comprising a conductive porous rod having a mixture of a second electrode active material and a second electrolyte residing in pores of the second porous rod; wherein the separator-protected first electrode and the second electrode are combined to form a braid or a yarn; and (d) a protective sheath encasing the braid or yarn; wherein either the first or the second electrode is a cathode containing sulfur or a sulfur compound as a cathode active material and the battery has a rope shape having a length-to-diameter aspect ratio no less than 5.

First claim

We claim:

1. A rope-shaped alkali metal-sulfur battery wherein said alkali metal is selected from Li, Na, or a combination thereof; said battery comprising:
(a) a first electrode comprising a first electrically conductive porous rod having pores and a first mixture of a first electrode active material and a first electrolyte, wherein said first mixture resides in said pores of said first porous rod;
(b) a porous separator wrapping around or encasing said first electrode to form a separator-protected first electrode;
(c) a second electrode comprising a second electrically conductive porous rod having pores and a second mixture of a second electrode active material and a second electrolyte, wherein said second mixture resides in said pores of said second porous rod; wherein said separator-protected first electrode and said second electrode are combined or interlaced together to form a braid or a yarn having a twist or spiral electrode and said first electrode and second electrode contains an anode and a cathode; and
(d) a protective casing or sheath wrapping around or encasing said braid or yarn;
wherein either the first electrode or the second electrode is a cathode containing sulfur or a sulfur compound as a cathode active material and said battery has a rope shape having a length-to-diameter or length-to-thickness aspect ratio no less than 5.

2. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said sulfur compound is selected from organo-sulfur, polymer-sulfur, carbon-sulfur, metal sulfide, S—Sb, S—Bi, S—Se, S—Te mixture, or a combination thereof.

3. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said cathode active material contains a material selected from sulfur bonded to pore walls of said first or second porous rod, sulfur bonded to or confined by a carbon or graphite material, sulfur bonded to or confined by a polymer, sulfur-carbon compound, metal sulfide M x S y , wherein x is an integer from 1 to 3 and y is an integer from 1 to 10, and M is a metal element selected from Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, a transition metal, a metal from groups 13 to 17 of the periodic table, or a combination thereof.

4. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said first electrode is a negative electrode or anode and said second electrode is a positive electrode or cathode.

5. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said second electrode is a negative electrode or anode and said first electrode is a positive electrode or cathode.

6. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said cathode active material is supported by a functional material or nano-structured material selected from the group consisting of:
i. a nano-structured or porous disordered carbon material selected from particles of a soft carbon, hard carbon, polymeric carbon or carbonized resin, meso-phase carbon, coke, carbonized pitch, carbon black, activated carbon, nano-cellular carbon foam or partially graphitized carbon;
ii. a nano graphene platelet selected from a single-layer graphene sheet or multi-layer graphene platelet;
iii. a carbon nanotube selected from a single-walled carbon nanotube or multi-walled carbon nanotube;
iv. a carbon nano-fiber, nano-wire, metal oxide nano-wire or fiber, conductive polymer nano-fiber, or a combination thereof;
v. a carbonyl-containing organic or polymeric molecule;
vi. a functional material containing a carbonyl, carboxylic, or amine group to reversibly capture sulfur;
and combinations thereof.

7. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said rope-shaped battery has a first end and a second end and said first electrode contains a first terminal connector comprising at least one metallic wire, conductive carbon/graphite fiber, or conductive polymer fiber that is embedded in, connected to, or integral with said first electrode.

8. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 7 , wherein said at least one metallic wire, conductive carbon/graphite fiber, or conductive polymer fiber runs approximately from said first end to said second end.

9. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said rope-shaped battery has a first end and a second end and said second electrode contains a second terminal connector comprising at least one metallic wire, conductive carbon/graphite fiber, or conductive polymer fiber that is embedded in, connected to, or integral with said second electrode.

10. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 9 , wherein said at least one metallic wire, conductive carbon/graphite fiber, or conductive polymer fiber runs approximately from said first end to said second end.

11. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said electrically conductive porous rod in the first or the second electrode contains a porous foam selected from the group consisting of metal foam, metal web, metal fiber mat, metal nanowire mat, conductive polymer fiber mat, conductive polymer foam, conductive polymer-coated fiber foam, carbon foam, graphite foam, carbon aerogel, carbon xerogel, graphene aerogel, graphene foam, graphene oxide foam, reduced graphene oxide foam, carbon fiber foam, graphite fiber foam, exfoliated graphite foam, and combinations thereof.

12. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said porous foam has a cross-section that is circular, elliptic, rectangular, square, hexagon, hollow, or irregular in shape.

13. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said electrically conductive porous rod in the first or the second electrode contains a conductive polymer fiber, a carbon/graphite fiber, a fiber tow, fiber yarn, fiber braid, fiber knit structure that is made of a conductive polymer, carbon fiber, graphite fiber, and combinations thereof.

14. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said battery has a rope shape having a length and a diameter or thickness and a length/thickness or length/diameter aspect ratio greater than 10.

15. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said battery has a rope shape having a length and a diameter or thickness and a length/thickness or length/diameter aspect ratio greater than 20.

16. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said first electrode or second electrode contains particles, foil, or coating of Li, Na, or a combination thereof as an electrode active material.

17. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 1 , wherein said first or second electrode active material is an anode active material selected from the group consisting of:
(a) particles of natural graphite, artificial graphite, meso-carbon microbeads (MCMB), and carbon;
(b) 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);
(c) 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;
(d) 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;
(e) pre-lithiated or pre-sodiated versions thereof;
(f) pre-lithiated or pre-sodiated graphene sheets;
and combinations thereof.

18. The alkali metal-sulfur battery of claim 17 , wherein said pre-lithiated or pre-sodiated graphene sheets are selected from the group consisting of pre-lithiated versions of pristine graphene, graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, h

Assignees

• Zhamu Aruna
• He Hui
• Pan Baofei
• Su yu sheng
• Jang Bor Z
• Nanotek Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Zhamu Aruna
• He Hui
• Pan Baofei
• Su yu sheng
• Jang Bor Z

Classifications

• H01M10/0568

  characterised by the solutes · CPC title

• H01M10/054

  Accumulators with insertion or intercalation of metals other than lithium, e.g. with magnesium or aluminium · CPC title

• H01M2/1055

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01M2300/0025

  Organic electrolyte · CPC title

• H01M10/0569

  characterised by the solvents · CPC title