Three-dimensional battery having current-reducing devices corresponding to electrodes
Various three-dimensional battery structures are disclosed, in certain embodiments comprising a battery enclosure and a first plurality of electrodes within the enclosure. The first plurality of electrodes includes a plurality of cathodes and a plurality of anodes. The first plurality of electrodes includes a second plurality of electrodes selected from the first plurality of electrodes. The three-dimensional battery includes a first structural layer within the battery enclosure. Each of the second plurality of electrodes protrudes from the first structural layer. The three-dimensional battery includes a plurality of electrical current-reducing devices within the enclosure. Each of the second plurality of electrodes is coupled to one of the plurality of current-reducing devices.
1. A three-dimensional battery comprising
a battery enclosure,
an anode current collector,
a plurality of anodes extending from a first layer and electrically connected, in parallel, to the anode current collector by parallel electrically conductive anode pathways,
a cathode current collector,
a plurality of cathodes extending from a second layer and electrically connected, in parallel, to the cathode current collector by parallel electrically conductive cathode pathways, and
a plurality of electrical current-reducing devices
wherein
the anode current collector, the plurality of anodes, the cathode current collector, the plurality of cathodes, the electrically conductive cathode pathways, the first and second layers, and the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices are within the battery enclosure,
the plurality of anodes and the plurality of cathodes are interdigitated and in direct contact with a common electrolyte for ion exchange between the anodes and the cathodes during operation of the battery,
each member of the plurality of anodes has a surface area, ignoring porosity and surface roughness, that exceeds its geometrical footprint in the first layer by a factor of at least 2,
each member of the plurality of cathodes has a surface area, ignoring porosity and surface roughness, that exceeds its geometrical footprint in the second layer by a factor of at least 2, and
the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices (i) are located in different parallel electrically conductive anode pathways electrically connecting different anodes selected from the plurality of anodes to the anode current collector and have the capacity to locally electrically isolate the different anodes from each other in response to an electrical short involving one or more of the anodes or (ii) are located in different parallel electrically conductive cathode pathways electrically connecting different cathodes selected from the plurality of cathodes to the cathode current collector and have the capacity to electrically isolate the different cathodes from each other in response to an electrical short involving one of the cathodes.
2. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices comprises a PTC layer including positive-temperature-coefficient (PTC) material.
3. The three-dimensional battery of claim 2 wherein the PTC material is a conductive-polymer PTC material.
4. The three-dimensional battery of claim 3 wherein the PTC material comprises polyethylene including graphite particles.
5. The three-dimensional battery of claim 2 wherein the PTC material comprises barium titanate.
6. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices collectively enable (i) each member of the plurality of anodes to be locally electrically isolated from each of the other members of the plurality of anodes or (ii) each member of the plurality of cathodes to be locally electrically isolated from each of the other members of the plurality of cathodes.
7. The three-dimensional battery of claim 6 wherein the PTC material is a conductive-polymer PTC material.
8. The three-dimensional battery of claim 7 wherein the PTC material comprises polyethylene including graphite particles.
9. The three-dimensional battery of claim 6 wherein the PTC material comprises barium titanate.
10. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of current-reducing devices comprises a plurality of solid state switches.
11. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of current-reducing devices comprises a plurality of fuses.
12. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of anodes comprises lithium ion insertion electrodes.
13. The three-dimensional battery of claim 6 wherein the plurality of cathodes comprises a material selected from the group consisting of LiCoO 2 , Li(Ni x Co y Al z )O 2 , LiFePO 4 , and Li 2 MnO 4 .
14. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of anodes and the plurality of cathodes comprise fins protruding at least 50 microns from the first structural layer.
15. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices are located in different parallel electrically conductive anode pathways electrically connecting different subsets of the plurality of anodes to the anode current collector.
16. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices are located in different parallel electrically conductive cathode pathways electrically connecting different subsets of the plurality of cathodes to the cathode current collector.
17. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 further comprising a second structural layer within the battery enclosure, wherein the plurality of anodes or the plurality of cathodes protrude from the second structural layer.
18. The three-dimensional battery of claim 17 wherein the plurality of anodes but not the plurality of cathodes protrude-from the second structural layer.
19. The three-dimensional battery of claim 17 wherein the plurality of cathodes but not the plurality of anodes protrude-from the second structural layer.
20. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of anodes or the plurality of cathodes comprise a protrusion that protrudes from the first structural layer and has an electrically conductive outer surface, and an electrode layer on the conductive outer surface.
21. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices are located in different parallel electrically conductive anode pathways electrically connecting different subsets of the plurality of anodes to the anode current collector and each such subset comprises more than one anode.
22. The three-dimensional battery of claim 21 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices are located in different parallel electrically conductive cathode pathways electrically connecting different subsets of the plurality of cathodes to the cathode current collector and each such subset comprises more than one cathode.
23. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices are located in different parallel electrically conductive cathode pathways electrically connecting different subsets of the plurality of cathodes to the cathode current collector and each such subset comprises more than one cathode.
24. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices collectively enable each anode of the plurality of anodes to be locally electrically isolated from each of the other anodes comprised by the plurality of anodes.
25. The three-dimensional battery of claim 24 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices collectively enable each cathode of the plurality of cathodes to be locally electrically isolated from each of the other cathodes comprised by the plurality of cathodes.
26. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the plurality of electrical current-reducing devices collectively enable each cathode of the plurality of cathodes to be locally electrically isolated from each of the other cathodes comprised by the plurality of cathodes.
27. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the first and second layers are the same layer.
28. The three-dimensional battery of claim 1 wherein the first and second layers are opposing layers.