Methods of making coated battery components
View Patent ↗A primary lithium battery can include a current collector that includes aluminum, a cap that includes aluminum, or both. The current collector can be coated with a cathode material The aluminum battery components can have high mechanical strength and low electrical resistance.
1. A method of making a cathode for a primary lithium battery comprising:
step A: pulling an expanded metal grid including aluminum and having an initial tensile strength and an array of diamond-shaped openings, each opening having a long dimension and a short dimension, and each opening defined by four elongated boundary elements, each boundary element having a length and the pulling being along a direction other than along the length of any of the elements, the pulling providing a pulled expanded metal grid having an increase in the short dimension of the openings and an increase in the tensile strength to greater than 5 lb/in;
step B: leveling the pulled expanded metal grid by passing the pulled expanded metal grid between rollers, and
step C: coating the pulled expanded metal grid with a composition including a cathode active material to provide a coated and pulled expanded metal grid,
wherein leveling is conducted before coating and in a separate step before step C.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the composition is a slurry.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cathode active material includes a manganese dioxide, a CF x , iron disulfide, or a vanadate.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the composition includes a carbon source.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the carbon source includes a carbon fiber, a graphite, an acetylenic carbon, or a combination thereof.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the composition includes a binder.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the binder includes an organic polymer.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes a 1000 series aluminum, a 2000 series aluminum alloy, a 3000 series aluminum alloy, a 5000 series aluminum alloy, a 6000 series aluminum alloy, or a 7000 series aluminum alloy.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes a 6000 series aluminum alloy.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including 0-0.4% by weight of chromium.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including 0.01-6.8% by weight of copper.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including 0.05-1.3% by weight of iron.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including 0.1-7% by weight of magnesium.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including 0-2% by weight of manganese.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including 0-2% by weight of silicon.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including less than 0.25% by weight of titanium.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including 0-8.2% by weight of zinc.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid includes an aluminum alloy including 0-2.3% by weight of nickel.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid has a resistivity of less than 100 mΩ/cm.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid has a resistivity of less than 10 mΩ/cm.
21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising drying the coated and pulled expanded metal grid.
22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising calendering the coated and pulled expanded metal grid after drying.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein calendering includes passing the coated and pulled expanded metal grid through a gap having a thickness of less than 25 mils.
24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising heat treating the coated and pulled expanded metal grid after calendering.
25. The method of claim 24 , further comprising drying the coated and pulled expanded metal grid under vacuum after heat treating.
26. The method of claim 9 , wherein the composition is a slurry.
27. The method of claim 9 , wherein the cathode active material includes a manganese dioxide, a CF x , iron disulfide, or a vanadate.
28. The method of claim 9 , wherein the composition includes a carbon source.
29. The method of claim 28 , wherein the carbon source includes a carbon fiber, a graphite, an acetylenic carbon, or a combination thereof.
30. The method of claim 9 , wherein the composition includes a binder.
31. The method of claim 28 , wherein the binder includes an organic polymer.
32. The method of claim 9 , further comprising drying the coated and pulled expanded metal grid.
33. The method of claim 32 , further comprising calendering the coated and pulled expanded metal grid after drying.
34. The method of claim 33 , wherein calendering includes passing the coated and pulled expanded metal grid through a gap having a thickness of less than 25 mils.
35. The method of claim 1 , wherein coating the pulled expanded metal grid comprises immersing the metal grid in the composition including the cathode active material.
36. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cathode active material includes manganese dioxide.
37. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cathode active material includes an iron disulfide.