JPH0574490A - Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which is excellent at cycle life characteristic and low temperature characteristics by improving the solvent of electrolyte. CONSTITUTION:A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a negative electrode 3 made by a carbonaceous material which can store and release lithium ions, nonaqueous electrolyte, and a positive electrode 1 made by an oxide containing lithium. The solvent of the nonaqueous electrolyte is a mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and propionic acid methyl. The ratio of the volume of the propionic acid methyl to that of the ethylene carbonate is not less than 1 and not more than 4. The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery excellent in cycle life and low temperature characteristics is thus obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, and more particularly to improvement of cycle life and capacity characteristics at low temperature of this battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, portable and cordless electronic devices have been rapidly developed, and there is a great demand for a small and lightweight secondary battery having high energy density as a power source for driving these devices. From this point of view, non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries,
In particular, lithium secondary batteries are highly expected as batteries having high voltage and high energy density.

When a non-aqueous electrolyte battery is used as a secondary battery, a positive electrode active material having a high capacity and a high voltage is desired.
LiCoO ₂ and LiMn ₂ O satisfy the requirements.
A material showing a high voltage of 4V of ₄ series is mentioned.

On the other hand, as negative electrode materials, lithium metal, lithium alloys, carbon materials capable of absorbing and releasing lithium ions, and the like have been investigated. However, metallic lithium has a problem of short circuit due to dendritic products (dendrites) associated with charge and discharge, and lithium alloy has a problem of electrode collapse due to expansion and contraction associated with charge and discharge. Therefore, recently, carbon materials that do not cause these problems have been regarded as promising as negative electrode materials for lithium secondary batteries. Generally, when metallic lithium is used as the negative electrode material, active dendrites generated on the negative electrode surface during charging react with a non-aqueous solvent to cause a partial solvent decomposition reaction, which often lowers charging efficiency. Are known. As a solution to this, JP-A-57-170463 proposes the use of a mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate, paying attention to the fact that ethylene carbonate is excellent in charging efficiency. Furthermore, JP-A-3-5
In 5770, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, 1,2-dimethoxyethane, and 4-methyl-1,3-dioxolane are mixed in a mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and diethyl carbonate in order to improve low-temperature characteristics of a battery, and a non-aqueous electrolyte solution It has been proposed to use it as a solvent.

However, even if these systems are used, the charging efficiency is limited to about 98 to 99% at the maximum, and the charging efficiency is not yet sufficiently increased. This is the same even when a lithium alloy is used for the negative electrode.

[0006]

When a carbon material is used as the negative electrode material, the charging reaction is a reaction in which lithium ions in the electrolytic solution intercalate between the layers of the carbon material, so that dendrite of lithium is produced. Therefore, the decomposition reaction of the solvent on the surface of the negative electrode should not occur.
However, in reality, the charging efficiency is less than 100%, and the same problems as in the case of using lithium or a lithium alloy for the negative electrode remain.

The inventors of the present invention have found that this phenomenon is not due to the decomposition reaction of the solvent on the surface of the negative electrode as in the case where lithium metal is used for the negative electrode, but when lithium is intercalated between the layers of the negative electrode carbon material, It was considered that not only lithium but also a solvent coordinated with lithium was drawn in between the layers, and at that time, a decomposition reaction of part of the solvent was caused. That is, the solvent having a large molecular radius is not smoothly intercalated between the layers of the negative electrode carbon material but is decomposed at the inlet between the layers of the negative electrode material.

Generally, a requirement for an excellent solvent for an electrolytic solution of a lithium battery is that it has a large dielectric constant, that is, it can dissolve a large amount of an inorganic salt as a solute. Propylene carbonate, ethylene carbonate, etc. are said to be excellent solvents that satisfy this requirement. However, since all of them have a large molecular radius due to their cyclic structure, when a carbon material is used for the negative electrode, they are charged as described above. It sometimes has a problem that it involves a decomposition reaction of the solvent. Further, since these solvents are highly viscous, when used alone, they have the drawbacks that the viscosity of the electrolytic solution is high and high rate charge / discharge is difficult, and the capacity at low temperature is small. In particular, ethylene carbonate has a high freezing point of 36.4 ° C. and cannot be used alone.

On the other hand, due to the structure of the chain ester, the chain ester easily enters between the layers of the carbon material, and the decomposition reaction during charging hardly occurs. Among them, it is already known in U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,596 that methyl acetate and methyl formate are excellent solvents, but on the contrary, these solvents have relatively high reactivity with lithium and are used as a negative electrode material. Even when a carbon material is used, it has a drawback that when it enters the layer, it partially reacts with lithium and is gradually consumed when the charge / discharge cycle is repeated.
In addition, many of them have relatively low boiling points, which makes it difficult to handle when constructing a battery.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and its main object is to provide a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery having a long life and an excellent capacity retention at low temperatures. Is.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a preferable solvent composition of the non-aqueous electrolyte solution for the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention uses a binary solvent mixture of ethylene carbonate and methyl propionate as a solvent for an electrolytic solution. is there. Particularly, the ratio of the volume of methyl propionate ÷ the volume of ethylene carbonate is 1 or more 4
The following provides an excellent electrolytic solution for a non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary battery.

[0013]

The present inventors have found that chain esters such as methyl acetate and methyl formate have relatively high reactivity with lithium.
This is because the functional group is a carboxyl group or a methylcarboxyl group and the chain structure is relatively short.Esters with a longer chain structure are stable to lithium, while on the other hand, if the chain is too long, As described above, it has been found that a solvent is apt to undergo a decomposition reaction when it is drawn between layers of a carbon material, and in that sense, methyl propionate having a functional group of ethylcarboxyl is an excellent solvent.

At the same time, this methyl propionate has a low freezing point, exhibits excellent low-temperature characteristics, and
It has been found that it has a higher boiling point than methyl formate and is easy to handle.

Furthermore, the only drawback of this solvent is that it is difficult to dissolve the inorganic salt that is a solute. This is because the cyclic ester having a large dielectric constant described above, especially ethylene carbonate, is added in an appropriate amount to charge and discharge. It is possible to obtain an electrolytic solution with excellent cycle characteristics and low temperature characteristics.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the examples, a cylindrical battery was constructed and evaluated.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a vertical sectional view of a cylindrical battery. In the figure, 1 indicates a positive electrode, which is an active material Li
CoO ₂ mixed with carbon black as a conductive material and an aqueous dispersion of polytetrafluoroethylene as a binder in a weight ratio of 100: 3: 10 was applied to both sides of an aluminum foil and dried, After being rolled, it is cut into a predetermined size. To this, 2 titanium lead plates are spot welded. The mixing ratio of the aqueous dispersion of polytetrafluoroethylene as the binder is calculated by its solid content. Reference numeral 3 denotes a negative electrode, which is composed mainly of a carbonaceous material, and the weight ratio of the carbonaceous material to the acrylic binder is 100: 5
The nickel foil is applied on both sides of the mixture, dried, rolled, and then cut into a predetermined size. The nickel negative electrode lead plate 4 is also spot-welded to this. Reference numeral 5 denotes a separator made of a polypropylene microporous film, which is interposed between the positive electrode 1 and the negative electrode 3, and is wholly spirally wound to form an electrode plate group. Insulating plates 6 and 7 made of polypropylene are arranged at the upper and lower ends of the electrode plate group, and the plates are inserted into a case 8 made of nickel plated with iron. Then, the positive electrode lead 2 is attached to the titanium sealing plate 10,
After spot welding the negative electrode lead 4 to the bottom of the case 8, a predetermined amount of electrolytic solution is injected into the case, and the battery is sealed with the sealing plate 10 through the gasket 9 to complete the battery. The dimensions of this battery are 14 mm in diameter and 50 mm in height.
Reference numeral 11 is a positive electrode terminal of the battery, and the battery case 8 also serves as a negative electrode terminal.

In the solvent of the electrolytic solution, ethylene carbonate (hereinafter referred to as EC) as a cyclic ester and methyl formate (hereinafter referred to as MF) as a chain ester, methyl acetate (hereinafter referred to as MA), methyl propionate (hereinafter referred to as MP) are used.
The cyclic ester alone system and the cyclic ester
For the chain ester mixed system (both in volume ratio), the following cylindrical batteries A to D were prototyped. Lithium hexafluorophosphate was used as the solute of the electrolyte, and
The concentration was adjusted to be mol / 1.

Battery A ... EC = 100 Battery B ... EC: MF = 30: 70 Battery C ... EC: MA = 30: 70 Battery D ... EC: MP = 30: 70 The evaluated battery characteristics are cycle life. It is a characteristic.

The test conditions were a charge / discharge current of 100 mA, a charge end voltage of 4.2 V, a discharge end voltage of 3.0 V, repeated charge / discharge at 20 ° C., and the test was terminated when the discharge capacity deteriorated to 50% of the initial value. The cycle number was defined as the cycle life.

However, since the solvent in the electrolytic solution of battery A was EC alone and the freezing point of EC was 36.4 ° C., only battery A was charged and discharged at 40 ° C.

FIG. 2 shows the cycle life characteristics of the batteries A to D. From FIG. 2, in the order of good cycle life characteristics, D-C-B-
It became A. Among them, A using the cyclic ester alone has a particularly short cycle life. This is because during charging, lithium ions intercalate between the layers of carbon material at the negative electrode,
At that time, it is considered that the solvent molecules coordinated to the lithium ions are also drawn between the layers, so that the solvent having a cyclic structure and large molecules is partially decomposed. In addition, the cycle life characteristics of the mixed system of EC and chain ester is MP-M.
The result was that the order of A-MF was good. From this, it is considered that the longer the chain of the chain ester is, the more stable it is, the reactivity with lithium is suppressed, and the good cycle characteristics are given.

From the above results, it was the mixed solvent system of cyclic ester and chain ester that had good cycle life characteristics, and especially when the chain ester was methyl propionate of the present invention, the longest life was obtained. It was

Next, a second embodiment will be described. (Example 2) As a solvent of the electrolytic solution, the following five mixed solvent systems prepared by combining the two components of EC and MP used in the battery D of Example 1 were trial-produced in the cylindrical batteries E to I. I went. Lithium hexafluorophosphate was used as the solute of the electrolytic solution, and the concentration was adjusted to 1 mol / 1 each.

Battery E ... EC: MP = 60: 40, MP ÷ EC = 0.
7 Battery F ... EC: MP = 50: 50, MP ÷ EC = 1 Battery G ... EC: MP = 30: 70, MP ÷ EC = 2.
3 Battery H ... EC: MP = 20: 80, MP ÷ EC = 4 Battery I ... EC: MP = 15: 85, MP ÷ EC = 5.
7 The constitutional conditions other than the electrolytic solution were the same as in Example 1.

The battery characteristics evaluated were a cycle life characteristic and a low temperature characteristic, and the initial voltage was 10 at the same voltage and current conditions as in Example 1.
After charging / discharging the cycle at 20 ° C., the test was stopped in the charged state, the temperature was changed to −10 ° C. to discharge, and the low temperature characteristics were evaluated by the magnitude of the discharge capacity. Then the temperature is 20 ℃
Then, charging and discharging were repeated under the same voltage and current conditions, and the cycle life characteristics were evaluated by the same method as in Example 1.

FIG. 3 shows the cycle life characteristics of the batteries E to I, and FIG. 4 shows the low temperature characteristics thereof. From FIG. 3, it was G-H-F-E-I in descending order of cycle life characteristics.

First, the cycle life becomes shorter as the ratio of G-F-E to EC becomes higher. The reason is that lithium ions intercalate between the layers of the carbon material at the negative electrode during charging. It is considered that the coordinating solvent molecule is also drawn in between the layers, so that it has a cyclic structure and EC with a large molecule is partially decomposed.

The reason why the cycle life becomes shorter as the amounts of H, I and methyl propionate increase is considered to be that the reaction between MP and lithium in the negative electrode carbon material appears.

Next, from FIG. 4, HG-
It became F-I-E. This is because the higher the mixing ratio of MP, the lower the viscosity of the electrolytic solution, but the EC is 15%.
It is considered that the battery I has a low solute-dissolving ability at a low temperature, a part of the solute is deposited, and the solute concentration in the electrolytic solution is lowered, and the characteristics are deteriorated. Further, it is considered that the battery E had a large EC mixing ratio and the electrolytic solution was solidified at −10 ° C., which made discharge impossible.

From the above results, the cycle life characteristics and the low temperature characteristics were good because the volume ratio of methyl propionate of F, G and H divided by the volume ratio of ethylene carbonate was 1 or more 4
It was in the following range.

Although the composite oxide of lithium and cobalt was used as the positive electrode active material in the examples, other composite oxides of lithium and nickel, composite oxides of lithium and manganese, composite oxides of lithium and iron were used. Lithium-containing oxides such as, or cobalt of each of the above composite oxides,
Similar results were obtained with nickel, manganese, and iron partially replaced with other transition metals.

In this embodiment, lithium hexafluorophosphate was used as the solute of the electrolytic solution, but other lithium-containing salts such as lithium borofluoride, lithium perchlorate, lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate, and hexafluorohexafluoride. Almost similar results were obtained with lithium oxide and the like.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and methyl propionate is used as a solvent of an electrolytic solution, and a volume ratio of methyl propionate / volume ratio of ethylene carbonate is 1 By setting the ratio to 4 or less, a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery having excellent cycle life characteristics and low temperature characteristics can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a cylindrical battery according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the cycle life of the battery in Example at 20 ° C.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing cycle life of the battery in Example at 20 ° C.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing changes in discharge voltage at −10 ° C. of batteries in Examples.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Positive Electrode 2 Positive Electrode Lead Plate 3 Negative Electrode 4 Negative Electrode Lead Plate 5 Separator 6 Upper Insulation Plate 7 Lower Insulation Plate 8 Case 9 Gasket 10 Sealing Plate 11 Positive Electrode Terminal

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Takayuki Kawahara 1 Toho Town, Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture Yokkaichi Research Institute, Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Katsuaki Hasegawa 1 Toho Town, Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture Mitsubishi Petrochemical Incorporated company Yokkaichi Research Institute

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A negative electrode made of a carbon material capable of inserting and extracting lithium ions, a non-aqueous electrolyte, and a positive electrode made of a lithium-containing oxide. The solvent of the non-aqueous electrolyte is ethylene carbonate and methyl propionate. Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery consisting of. 2. The non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of a volume of methyl propionate as a solvent component of the electrolyte solution / a volume of ethylene carbonate is 1 or more and 4 or less. 3. The positive electrode active material is a composite oxide of lithium and cobalt, a composite oxide of lithium and nickel, a composite oxide of lithium and manganese, a composite oxide of lithium and iron, or cobalt of the above composite oxides, respectively. The non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein nickel, manganese, and iron are partially replaced with another transition metal. 4. The nonaqueous electrolytic solution contains at least one of lithium hexafluorophosphate, lithium borofluoride, lithium perchlorate, lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate, and lithium hexafluoroarsenate as its solute. Items 1-3
The non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to any one of 1.