Colorado State University Research Foundation

Prieto Battery, Inc.

Johnson, Derek C.

Prieto, Amy L.

Hoffert, Wesley A.

Rawls, Matthew

Amy L Prieto

Derek C Johnson

Matthew T Rawls

James M Mosby

C Michael Elliott

Wesley A Hoffert

Daniel J Bates

Timothy S Arthur

A lithium-ion battery including an electrodeposited anode material having a micron-scale, three-dimensional porous foam structure separated from interpenetrating cathode material that fills the void space of the porous foam structure by a thin solid-state electrolyte which has been reductively polymerized onto the anode material in a uniform and pinhole free manner, which will significantly reduce the distance which the Li-ions are required to traverse upon the charge/discharge of the battery cell over other types of Li-ion cell designs, and a procedure for fabricating the battery are described. The interpenetrating three-dimensional structure of the cell will also provide larger energy densities than conventional solid-state Li-ion cells based on thin-film technologies. The electrodeposited anode may include an intermetallic composition effective for reversibly intercalating Li-ions.

Lithium-ion battery having interpenetrating electrodes

An apparatus and method for measuring the isoelectric pH for materials deposited on or otherwise affixed onto and in contact with an electrode surface, and a method for utilizing the isoelectric pH to form nanometer thickness, self-assembled layers on the material, are described. Forming such layers utilizing information obtained about the isoelectric pH values of the substrate and the coating is advantageous since the growth of the coating is self-limiting because once the surface charge has been neutralized there is no longer a driving force for the solid electrolyte coating thickness to increase, and uniform coatings without pinhole defects will be produced because a local driving force for assembly will exist if any bare electrode material is exposed to the solution. The present self-assembly procedure, when combined with electrodeposition, may be used to increase the coating thickness. Self-assembly, with or without additional electrodeposition, allows intimate contact between the anode, electrolyte and cathode which is required for successful application to solid-state batteries, as an example.

Self-assembly of coatings utilizing surface charge

Electrochemical methods for probing solid polymer electrolyte surface coatings on electrically conducting, active, three-dimensional electrode materials for use in lithium-ion batteries, to quantitatively determine the conformity, uniformity, and the presence of pinholes, and/or other defects in coatings, without requiring the detachment of the coating from the electrode or otherwise inducing damage to the coating, are described. Coated electrodes are submersed in an electrolyte solution containing a redox-active probe species which does not induce electrochemical damage to either the working electrode or the solid polymer electrolyte surface coating. For coated CuSb working electrodes, molecules including a water-soluble redox active viologen moiety have been found to be effective. The current as a function of the applied potential for an uncoated working electrode is used as a baseline for testing solid polymer surface coatings on working electrodes, and the difference in the observed current between the electrodes for a given potential is a quantitative indicator of the ability of the probe species to access the surface of the working electrode through the solid polymer electrolyte coating.

Detection of defects in solid-polymer coatings using reduction-oxidation probes

A lithium-ion battery having an anode including an array of nanowires electrochemically coated with a polymer electrolyte, and surrounded by a cathode matrix, forming thereby interpenetrating electrodes, wherein the diffusion length of the Liions is significantly decreased, leading to faster charging/discharging, greater reversibility, and longer battery lifetime, is described. The battery design is applicable to a variety of battery materials. Methods for directly electrodepositing CuSb from aqueous solutions at room temperature using citric acid as a complexing agent to form an array of nanowires for the anode, are also described. Conformal coating of poly-[Zn(4-vinyl-4'methyl-2,2&#x2032;-bipyridine)](PF)by electroreductive polymerization onto films and high-aspect ratio nanowire arrays for a solid-state electrolyte is also described, as is reductive electropolymerization of a variety of vinyl monomers, such as those containing the acrylate functional group. Such materials display limited electronic conductivity but significant lithium ion conductivity. Cathode materials may include oxides, such as lithium cobalt oxide, lithium magnesium oxide, or lithium tin oxide, as examples, or phosphates, such as LiFePO, as an example.

Lithium-ion battery

Methods are described for forming insulating hybrid organic-inorganic solid electrolytes on conducting electrodes that are active materials in Li-ion batteries by electrochemical deposition, and for forming second conducting electrodes on the solid electrolytes using aqueous slurries, whereby Li-ion battery cells having solid electrolytes are generated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is utilized for determining that the solid electrolytes are defect and pinhole free.

Lithium-ion battery having organic-inorganic hybrid solid electrolyte

Methods for reductively polymerizing vinylic based monomers from a solution thereof onto the surface of an electrode material, resulting in thin, electrically insulating solid-polymer electrolyte coatings strongly bound to the surface of the electrode material, are described. The strong bond permits a second electrode to be coated directly onto the solid-polymer electrolyte, thereby incorporating the required components for a Li-ion battery cell. At least one initiator species, which is readily reduced by accepting an electron from the electrode material, is included in electropolymerization deposition solution for permitting the polymerization of vinylic species that would otherwise not electrochemically polymerize without damage to either the electrode material or to the solvents employed.

Growing community of inventors

Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

Amy L Prieto