Ultra high melt temperature microporous high temperature battery separators and related methods
Disclosed or provided are non-shutdown high melt temperature or ultra high melt temperature microporous battery separators, high melt temperature separators, battery separators, membranes, composites, and the like that preferably prevent contact between the anode and cathode when the battery is maintained at elevated temperatures for a period of time and preferably continue to provide a substantial level of battery function (ionic transfer, discharge) when the battery is maintained at elevated temperatures for a period of time, methods of making, testing and/or using such separators, membranes, composites, and the like, and/or batteries, high temperature batteries, and/or Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries including one or more such separators, membranes, composites, and the like.
1. A non-shutdown microporous battery separator membrane that prevents contact between the anode and cathode when the battery is maintained at elevated temperatures for a period of time comprises:
a porous polymeric membrane; and
a coating on at least one side of said porous polymeric membrane comprising electrospun non-porous fibers of polybenzimidazole (PBI), the basis weight of the PBI electrospun coating is from 1.0 to 8.0 g/m 2 and having a coating thickness from 4 to 7 microns.
2. The battery separator membrane of claim 1 , wherein the porous polymeric membrane comprises a polyolefin.
3. A lithium-ion rechargeable battery including one or more non-shutdown battery separator membranes of claim 1 .
4. The battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the coating on at least one side of said porous polymeric membrane has a glass transition temperature (T g ) greater than 180° C.
5. The battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the coating on at least one side of said porous polymeric membrane has a glass transition temperature (T g ) of at least 250° C.
6. The battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the separator prevents contact between the anode and cathode when the battery is maintained at temperatures greater than 160° C. for at least 60 minutes.
7. The battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the separator is capable of at least partial functioning at high temperatures of about 160° C. or more for at 60 minutes, and wherein the partial functioning includes both keeping the electrodes physically separated and allowing ionic flow between the electrodes.
8. The battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the separator is capable of at least partial functioning at high temperatures of about 180° C. or more for at least 15 minutes, and wherein the partial functioning includes both keeping the electrodes physically separated and allowing ionic flow between the electrodes.
9. The battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the separator is capable of at least partial functioning at high temperatures of about 220° C. or more for at least 5 minutes, and wherein the partial functioning includes both keeping the electrodes physically separated and allowing ionic flow between the electrodes.
10. The battery separator of claim 1 , where the separator is a non-shutdown HTMI separator.
11. The microporous battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the separator is an ultra high melt temperature microporous lithium-ion rechargeable battery separator that is capable of retaining its physical structure up to 250° C. in a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, cell, pack, battery, accumulator, or capacitor.
12. The microporous battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the separator is a high melt temperature microporous lithium-ion rechargeable battery separator that is capable of retaining its physical structure up to 160° C. in a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, cell, pack, battery, accumulator, or capacitor.
13. The microporous battery separator of claim 1 , wherein the porous polymeric membrane is made of a thermoplastic polymer selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polypropylene, and blends, mixtures, or combinations thereof.
14. The microporous battery separator of claim 13 , wherein the porous polymeric membrane is pre-treated in order to alter the surface characteristics of the porous polymeric membrane and improve the adhesion of the PBI coating to the porous polymeric membrane, and wherein the pre-treatment is selected from the group consisting of: priming, stretching, corona treatment, plasma treatment, and/or coating.
15. In a battery, the improvement comprising the microporous battery separator of claim 1 .
16. In a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, the improvement comprising the microporous battery separator of claim 1 .
17. In a cell, pack, battery, accumulator, or capacitor, the improvement comprising the microporous battery separator of claim 11 .
18. The separator of claim 1 , wherein microporous polymeric membrane is made by a dry stretch process known as the Celgard® dry stretch process, by a wet process also known as a phase separation or extraction process, or by a particle stretch process.