Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
  • H01M4/36—Selection of substances as active materials, active masses, active liquids
  • H01M4/362—Composites
  • H01M4/366—Composites as layered products
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
  • H01M4/13—Electrodes for accumulators with non-aqueous electrolyte, e.g. for lithium-accumulators; Processes of manufacture thereof
  • H01M4/134—Electrodes based on metals, Si or alloys
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
  • H01M4/13—Electrodes for accumulators with non-aqueous electrolyte, e.g. for lithium-accumulators; Processes of manufacture thereof
  • H01M4/139—Processes of manufacture
  • H01M4/1395—Processes of manufacture of electrodes based on metals, Si or alloys
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
  • H01M4/62—Selection of inactive substances as ingredients for active masses, e.g. binders, fillers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
  • H01M4/36—Selection of substances as active materials, active masses, active liquids
  • H01M4/38—Selection of substances as active materials, active masses, active liquids of elements or alloys
  • H01M4/381—Alkaline or alkaline earth metals elements
  • H01M4/382—Lithium
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/02—Electrodes composed of, or comprising, active material
  • H01M4/36—Selection of substances as active materials, active masses, active liquids
  • H01M4/38—Selection of substances as active materials, active masses, active liquids of elements or alloys
  • H01M4/40—Alloys based on alkali metals
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
  • Y02E60/10—Energy storage using batteries

Definitions

• electroactive material layer comprising an electroactive species and a substantially continuous and substantially nonporous buffer layer disposed on the electroactive material layer.
• the buffer layer may be conductive to the electroactive species.
• a substantially continuous and substantially nonporous protective layer may also be disposed on the buffer layer.
• the protective layer may be formed using a gas, a plasma, a material, or a fluid that is reactive with the electroactive material layer.
• FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of an electrode structure incorporating a protective layer deposited on a buffer layer and an intermediate layer according to one set of embodiments;
• the inventors have recognized that it is desirable to form the protective layer directly onto metallic lithium.
• Forming a lithium nitride layer directly onto metallic lithium can afford several advantages such as simplifying the manufacturing process (as a separate lamination step would not be required), reducing the number of interfaces, reducing the thickness of the protective layer, and/or providing an improved interface between the metallic lithium and the lithium nitride which may result in lower interface resistance and lower overall cell resistance.
• some protective layers such as lithium nitride are coated on top of a metallic lithium surface, partial or total conversion of the underlying metallic lithium may occur due to reaction of the lithium metal with the reactive gas used to form the protective layer (e.g., nitrogen gas).
• the reactive gas used to form the protective layer e.g., nitrogen gas
• an intermediate layer 12 as depicted in Fig. 2, that is compatible with both the buffer layer and the protective layer, may be disposed between the buffer layer and protective layer to provide a stable final electrode structure.
• intermediate layers include polymeric layers, glassy layers, ceramic layers, and glassy-ceramic layers.
• the protective layer may exhibit ion conductivities relative to the electroactive species greater than or equal to about 10 " S/cm, greater than or equal to about 10 "6 S/cm, greater than or equal to about 10 "5 S/cm, greater than or equal to about 10 "4 S/cm, greater than or equal to about 10 "3 S/cm, or any other appropriate conductivity.
• the protective layer may exhibit
• the charge transfer resistance across the protective layer and buffer layer is less than the charge transfer resistance across the buffer layer without the protective layer.
• the total charge transfer resistance of the cell can be reduced.
• the specific resistance values will depend on the conductivities of the specific protective layer and buffer layer used in the electrode. For example, as described in more detail below in the examples, the resistance value for a lithium oxide layer alone in a particular cell is about 6 ⁇ /cm 2 .
• the above ranges of elemental materials may be combined to provide a number of different buffer layer compositions.
• the buffer layer might have a composition including between about 1% to about 75% lithium, about 0% to about 50% nitrogen, and about 0% to about 70% oxygen.
• Other combinations of the above ranges of elemental materials are also possible.
• the above compositions might be combined with the use of dopants or other suitable additions.
• a carrier substrate may have any suitable thickness.
• the thickness of a carrier substrate may greater than or equal to about 5 microns, greater than or equal to about 15 microns, greater than or equal to about 25 microns, greater than or equal to about 50 microns, greater than or equal to about 75 microns, greater than or equal to about 100 microns, greater than or equal to about 200 microns, greater than or equal to about 500 microns, or greater than or equal to about 1 mm.
• release layer 16 may have a relatively high adhesive strength to one of carrier substrate 14 and protective layer 8 or electroactive material layer 4, and a relatively moderate or poor adhesive strength to the other of carrier substrate 14 and protective layer 8 or electroactive material layer 4. Consequently, the release layer can function to facilitate the delamination of carrier substrate from the final electrode structure when a peel force is applied to either the carrier substrate and/or to the electrode structure.
• the release layer may be formed using any appropriate material exhibiting the desired release properties relative to the carrier substrate and protective layer and conductivity.
• the specific material to be used will depend, at least in part, on factors such as the particular type of carrier substrate used, the material in contact with the other side of the release layer, whether the release layer is to be incorporated into the final electrode structure, and whether the release layer has an additional function after being incorporated into the electrochemical cell.
• a release layer can also include crosslinked polymer material formed from the polymerization of monomers such as alkyl acrylates, glycol acrylates, polyglycol acrylates, polyglycol vinyl ethers, polyglycol divinyl ethers, and those described in U.S. Patent No. 6,183,901 to Ying et al. of the common assignee for protective coating layers for separator layers.
• one such crosslinked polymer material is polydivinyl poly(ethylene glycol).
• the crosslinked polymer materials may further comprise salts, for example, lithium salts, to enhance ionic conductivity.
• PDMS poly(dimethylsiloxane)
• PDES poly(diethylsiloxane)
• PDPS polydiphenylsiloxane
• PMPS polymethylphenylsiloxane
• inorganic polymers e.g., polyphosphazene, polyphosphonate, polysilanes, polysilazanes.
• the release layer is incorporated into the final electrode structure, it may be desirable to provide a release layer capable of functioning as a separator within an electrochemical cell.
• the release layer is conductive to the electroactive species of the electrochemical cell.
• Conductivity of the release layer may, for example, be provided either through intrinsic conductivity of the material in the dry state, or the release layer may comprise a polymer that is capable of being swollen by an electrolyte to form a gel polymer exhibiting conductivity in the wet state.
• Cathodes may also comprise a binder.
• the choice of binder material may vary widely so long as it is inert with respect to the other materials in the cathode.
• the binder material may be a polymeric material. Examples of polymer binder materials include, but are not limited to, polyvinylidene fluoride
• an electrolyte may be present as a polymer layer such as a gel or solid polymer layer.
• a polymer layer positioned between an anode and cathode can function to screen the anode (e.g., a base electrode layer of the anode) from any cathode roughness under an applied force or pressure, keeping the anode surface smooth under force or pressure, and stabilizing any multi-layered structures of the anode (e.g., ceramic polymer multi-layer) by keeping the multi-layer pressed between the base electrode layer and the smooth polymer layer.
• the polymer layer may be chosen to be compliant and have a smooth surface.
• liquid electrolyte solvents that may be favorable towards the anode (e.g., have relatively low reactivity towards lithium, good lithium ion conductivity, and/or relatively low polysulfide solubility) include, but are not limited to 1,1-dimethoxyethane ( 1,1-DME), 1,1-diethoxyethane, 1,2-diethoxyethane, diethoxymethane, dibutyl ether, anisole or methoxybenzene, veratrole or 1,2- dimethoxybenzene, 1,3-dimethoxybenzene, t-butoxyethoxyethane, 2,5- dimethoxytetrahydrofurane, cyclopentanone ethylene ketal, and combinations thereof.
• 1,1-dimethoxyethane 1,1-DME
• 1,1-diethoxyethane 1,2-diethoxyethane
• diethoxymethane diethoxymethane
• dibutyl ether dibutyl ether
• the electrochemical cell can benefit from desirable characteristics of both electrolyte solvents (e.g., relatively low lithium reactivity of the anode- side electrolyte solvent and relatively high polysulfide solubility of the cathode- side electrolyte solvent).
• the pores of the separator may be partially or substantially filled with electrolyte.
• Separators may be supplied as porous free standing films which are interleaved with the anodes and the cathodes during the fabrication of cells.
• EXAMPLE 1 Lithium Nitride Deposition on Different Substrates
• Lithium nitride layers were deposited onto each of: a copper metallized polyethylene terephthalate substrate; 4 ⁇ thick metallic lithium; and a lithium oxide buffer layer with a thickness of less than about 100 nm deposited on top of metallic lithium with a thickness of less than about 2 ⁇ .
• Deposition of the lithium nitride and lithium oxide layers was performed using reaction of lithium vapor and plasma activated nitrogen gas.
• An image 200 and three dimensional profilometry image 202 of the lithium nitride layer deposited onto the copper metallized substrate is depicted in Fig. 5.

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• 2013
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