Current collector for polymer electrochemical cells and electrochemical generators thereof
View Patent ↗A current collector for polymer electrolyte thin film electrochemical cells and an electrochemical generator is disclosed. The current collector comprises a polymer substrate support film having a thickness of between 1 and 15 microns; a conductive metallic layer having a thickness of less than 3 microns, coated by metal vapor deposition onto at least one surface of the polymer substrate film; and a protective metal or metal oxide layer deposited onto the conductive metallic layer, having a thickness of between 5 and 500 nanometer and being electronically conductive.
1. A current collector for polymer electrolyte thin film electrochemical cells comprising:
a polymer support film having a thickness of between 1 and 15 microns;
a conductive metallic layer having a thickness of less than 3 microns, said conductive metallic layer coated by metal vapor deposition onto at least one surface of said polymer support film;
a protective metallic layer deposited onto said conductive metallic layer, said protective metallic layer having a thickness of between 5 and 500 nanometers and being electronically conductive.
2. A current collector as defined in claim 1 wherein said polymer support film is selected from the group consisting of polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, polypropylene and polyamide.
3. A current collector as defined in claim 1 wherein said conductive metallic layer is selected from the group consisting of Al, Cd, Cu, Mg, Ni and Sn.
4. A current collector as defined in claim 1 wherein said protective metallic layer is selected from the group consisting of Ag, Pd, Pt, Sn and Cr.
5. A current collector as defined in claim 4 wherein said protective metallic layer is coated by sputtering onto said first metallic layer.
6. A current collector as defined in claim 1 wherein said protective metallic layer is a metal oxide layer.
7. A current collector as defined in claim 1 wherein said polymer support film is electronically conductive.
8. A current collector as defined in claim 7 wherein said polymer support film is made electronically conductive by doping with a sufficient amount of a conductive material so as to be conductive and increase the overall conductivity of said current collector.
9. A current collector as defined in claim 8 wherein conductive material is selected from the group consisting of carbon powder, graphite, powdered nickel and metal particles.
10. A current collector as defined in claim 7 wherein said polymer support film is a polymer having a conjugated network of double bonds.
11. A current collector as defined in claim 1 wherein said conductive metallic layer is coated onto at least one surface of said polymer support film by plasma activated vapor deposition.
12. A current collector as defined in claim 1 wherein said protective metallic layer is deposited by metal sputtering.
13. A current collector as defined in claim 1 wherein said conductive metallic layer is a first conductive metallic layer and said protective metallic layer is a first protective metallic layer, said current collector further comprising a second conductive metallic layer and a second protective metallic layer such as to form a dual side metallized current collector.
14. A rechargeable electrochemical generator comprising at least one thin-film electrochemical cell, said electrochemical cell comprising:
at least one thin-film solid electrolyte disposed between a film constituting an anode and a film constituting a cathode;
a current collector associated with one of said anode or cathode, said current collector comprising:
i. a polymer support film having a thickness of between 1 and 15 microns;
ii. a conductive metallic layer having a thickness of less than 3 microns, said conductive metallic layer coated by metal vapor deposition onto at least one surface of said polymer support film;
iii. a protective metallic layer deposited onto said conductive metallic layer, said protective metallic layer having a thickness of between 5 and 500 nanometer and being electronically conductive.
15. A rechargeable electrochemical generator as defined in claim 14 wherein a plurality of thin-film electrochemical cells are stacked together.
16. A rechargeable electrochemical generator as defined in claim 15 wherein said electrochemical cells are of bi-face configuration.
17. A rechargeable electrochemical generator as defined in claim 14 wherein said polymer support film is electronically conductive.
18. A rechargeable electrochemical generator as defined in claim 14 wherein said conductive metallic layer is selected from the group consisting of Al, Cd, Cu, Mg, Ni and Sn.
19. A rechargeable electrochemical generator as defined in claim 14 wherein said protective metallic layer is selected from the group consisting of Ag, Pd, Pt, Sn and Cr.