Colorado State University Research Foundation

Prieto Battery, Inc.

James M Mosby

Amy L Prieto

Derek C Johnson

Matthew T Rawls

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

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

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.

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Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

James M Mosby