Cast thermal battery electrodes and separators using a salt binder
Cast components can improve the effectiveness of current state-of-the-art in thermal battery processing technology in terms of cost, labor, materials usage, and flexibility. Cast components can include cast cathodes, anodes, and separators.
1. A method for fabricating a cast thermal battery film, comprising:
dissolving a salt binder into a solvent forming a salt binder solution;
adding an active material to the salt binder solution;
mixing the salt binder solution and the active material mixture to form a slurry;
casting the slurry onto a substrate; and
removing the solvent from the cast film to bring the salt binder out of solution to bind the film.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixing comprises high shear mixing.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the high shear mixing comprises ball milling.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the slurry is substantially homogeneous.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the casting comprises a film-laydown process.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the film laydown process comprises additive manufacturing.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising shaping the cast film into a form factor.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the active material comprises metal sulfides.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the active material comprises a lithium alloy.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the separator material comprises MgO.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the salt binder comprises an alkali halide salt.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein an amount of salt binder is greater than 20 mg/mL of solvent.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solvent comprises a high dielectric organic solvent.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a current collector of a thin film of metal.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a porous conductive sheet with a degree of permeability to the slurry to facilitate enhanced film adhesion.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the substrate comprising a porous metal.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises an anode.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing the solvent comprises drying the cast film.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermal battery is greater than 1 A/cm2.