METHOD FOR PRODUCTION OF LAMINATED SOLID ELECTROLYTE-BASED COMPONENTS AND ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS USING SAME
A method for producing a solid electrolyte-based electrochemical cell by dry laminating the solid electrolyte layers to active material layers to form composite components, contacting composite components, and packaging the contacted composite components to form a solid electrolyte-based electrochemical cell.
1 . A method for producing a composite component for a solid electrolyte-based battery comprising:
applying a solid electrolyte material to at least one of an anode active material and a cathode active material; and
dry laminating the solid electrolyte material to the at least one of the anode active material and the cathode material to form a composite component.
2 . The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the solid electrolyte material comprises sulfur and one of lithium compounds, sodium compounds, or magnesium compounds.
3 . The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the anode active material comprises at least one of lithium metal, sodium metal, and magnesium metal.
4 . The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising bonding the composite component to a current collector formed from at least one of aluminum, nickel, stainless steel and carbon fiber.
5 . The method as recited in claim 1 wherein dry laminating includes applying a force per unit area in the range of 2,000-100,000 PSI to the solid electrolyte material to promote adhesion to the anode active material and/or cathode active material.
6 . The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the solid electrolyte material comprises a hardness greater than a hardness of the anode active material and/or cathode active material.
7 . The method as recited in claim 1 further including heating the composite component to a temperature between 20 and 200° C. after dry laminating.
8 . The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the solid electrolyte material comprises a thickness ranging from 0.5 to 150 microns.
9 . The method as recited in claim 1 further including evaporating or sputtering the anode active material and/or cathode active material onto the solid electrolyte prior to laminating the solid electrolyte material to the anode active material and/or cathode active material.
10 . The method as recited in claim 1 further including casting the solid electrolyte material from a slurry onto a carrier, then drying the solid electrolyte material prior to laminating the solid electrolyte material to the anode active material and/or cathode active material.
11 . A method for producing a solid electrolyte-based electrochemical cell comprising:
a) applying a solid electrolyte material to an anode active material;
b) dry laminating the solid electrolyte material to the anode active material to form a composite anode component;
c) applying a solid electrolyte material to a cathode active material containing layer;
d) dry laminating the solid electrolyte material to the cathode active material containing layer to form a composite cathode component; and
e) contacting the solid electrolyte material of the composite anode component with the solid electrolyte material of the composite cathode component to form a solid electrolyte-based electrochemical cell.
12 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein contacting further includes applying a force per unit area of <100 MPa to the solid electrolyte material to promote adhesion to the anode active material and/or cathode electrolyte material.
13 . An electrochemical cell comprising:
a metal anode;
a cathode, and;
two separator layers in between the metal anode and the cathode
wherein the separator layer, which is in contact with the anode, has a lower relative density than the separator layer, which is in contact with the cathode.
14 . The electrochemical cell of claim 13 wherein each of the separator layers comprise a solid electrolyte.
15 . The electrochemical cell of claim 14 wherein the solid electrolyte comprises sulfur.
16 . The electrochemical cell of claim 14 wherein each of the separator layers further comprise a polymer binder.
17 . The electrochemical cell of claim 14 wherein a relative density of the separator layer in contact with the anode is 50-80% as compared to a maximum density of the solid state electrolyte.
18 . The electrochemical cell of claim 14 wherein a relative density of the separator layer in contact with the cathode is 75%-99% as compared to a maximum density of the solid state electrolyte.
19 . The electrochemical cell of claim 13 wherein the metal anode comprises lithium metal.
20 . The electrochemical cell of claim 13 where the two separators are adhered to each other with a peel strength less than half of a peel strength of the separator to cathode layer peel strength.