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High energy materials for a battery and methods for making and use

a battery and high-energy technology, applied in the field of batteries, can solve the problems of limited widespread use and realization of performance potential, poor rate performance, and low efficiency of metal fluoride materials

Inactive Publication Date: 2016-05-19
WILDCAT DISCOVERY TECH
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method for making a material that can be used to make a cathode for a battery. The material is made by coating a metal fluoride with a material that includes a metal or metal complex and annealing the coated material. This annealing results in a phase change that improves the material's ability to store and discharge energy. The material can include particles with a grain size of 100 nm or larger, and the coating can be covalently bonded to the particle. The resulting material can be used to make batteries with electrodes that have reversible capacity.

Problems solved by technology

However, a number of technical challenges currently limit their widespread use and realization of their performance potential.
One challenge for certain metal fluoride materials is comparatively poor rate performance.
Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks to wide bandgap materials is the intrinsically low electronic conductivity that results from the wide bandgap.
Such low discharge rates limit the widespread use of metal fluoride active materials.
Another challenge for certain metal fluoride active materials is a significant hysteresis observed between the charge and discharge voltages during cycling.
Since the electrochemical potential for many of the metal fluorides is on the order of 3.0V, this hysteresis of about 1.0V to about 1.5V limits the overall energy efficiency to approximately 50%.
Limited cycle life is another challenge for certain metal fluoride active materials.
Although rechargeability has been demonstrated for many metal fluoride active materials, their cycle life is typically limited to tens of cycles and is also subject to rapid capacity fade.
Two mechanisms are currently believed to limit the cycle life for the metal fluoride active materials: agglomeration of metallic nanoparticles and mechanical stress due to volume expansion.
The larger agglomerated particles in turn create islands that are electrically disconnected from one another, thus reducing the capacity and ability to cycle the metal fluoride active materials.
The second limitation to extended cycle life is the mechanical stress imparted to the binder materials by the metal fluoride particles as a result of the volume expansion that occurs during the conversion reaction.
Over time, the binder is pulverized, compromising the integrity of the cathode.

Method used

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  • High energy materials for a battery and methods for making and use
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Examples

Experimental program
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example 1

Fabrication of Hybrid and / or Coated Electrodes for Rechargeable Cells

[0054]Materials and Synthetic Methods. All reactions were prepared in a high purity argon filled glove box (M-Braun, O2 and humidity contents <0.1 ppm). Unless otherwise specified, materials were obtained from commercial sources (e.g., Sigma-Aldrich, Advanced Research Chemicals Inc., Alfa Aesar, Strem) without further purification.

[0055]Preparation of CuF2 Hybrid. Milling vessels were loaded with CuF2 at from about 85 wt % to about 95 wt % and reactant (metal oxide or metal oxide precursor) at from about 5 wt % to about 15 wt %, and the vessels were sealed. The mixture was milled. After milling, samples were annealed at from about 200 degrees C. to about 575 degrees C. for 1 to 12 hours under flowing N2. Specific hybrid-forming reactants were processed as described below.

[0056]Preparation of CuF2 / Cu3Mo2O9. Milling vessels were loaded with CuF2 (85 wt %) and MoO3 (15 wt %), sealed, and then milled. After milling, sa...

example 2

Electrochemical Characterization of Electrochemical Cells Containing Rechargeable Electrodes

[0062]All batteries were assembled in a high purity argon filled glove box (M-Braun, O2 and humidity contents 6 in 1:2 EC:EMC electrolyte. Electrodes and cells were electrochemically characterized at 30 degrees C. with a constant current C / 50 charge and discharge rate between 4.0 V and 2.0 V. A 3 hour constant voltage step was used at the end of each charge. In some instances, cathodes were lithiated pressing lithium foil to the electrode in the presence of electrolyte (1M LiPF6 in 1:2 EC:EMC) for about 15 minutes. The electrode was then rinsed with EMC and built into cells as described above, except graphite was used as the anode rather than lithium.

[0063]FIG. 1 illustrates the results of electrochemical characterization of certain embodiments disclosed herein. Specifically, the second cycle discharge capacity of three different cathode formulations containing a LiFePO4 material is plotted a...

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Abstract

A method of forming an electrode active material by reacting a metal fluoride and a reactant. The method includes a coating step and a comparatively low temperature annealing step. Also included is the electrode formed following the method.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 604,013, having a filing date of Jan. 23, 2015 entitled “High Energy Materials for a Battery and Methods for Making and Use” which is a continuation-in-part of International Application No. PCT / US2014 / 028506, having an international filing date of Mar. 14, 2014 entitled “High Energy Materials For A Battery And Methods For Making And Use,” which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 786,602 filed Mar. 15, 2013 entitled “High Energy Materials For A Battery And Methods For Making And Use.” This application claims priority to and the benefit of each of these applications, and each application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention is in the field of battery technology, and more particularly in the area of materials for making high-energy electrodes for batteries, including metal-fluorid...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): H01M4/04H01M4/136
CPCH01M4/0471H01M4/136H01M4/0423H01M4/485H01M4/525H01M4/58H01M4/366H01M4/5825H01M10/052Y02E60/10C23C14/0641C23C14/0694C23C14/08
Inventor O'NEILL, CORYKAYE, STEVEN
Owner WILDCAT DISCOVERY TECH