METHOD FOR PRODUCTION OF LAMINATED SOLID ELECTROLYTE-BASED COMPONENTS AND ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS USING SAME

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 or a cathode active material; and

dry laminating the solid electrolyte material to the at least one of the anode active material or 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 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein contacting further includes applying a force per unit area of <50 MPa to the solid electrolyte material to promote adhesion to the anode active material and/or cathode electrolyte material.

14 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein contacting further includes applying a force per unit area of <10 MPa to the solid electrolyte material to promote adhesion to the anode active material and/or cathode electrolyte material.

15 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein step (e) is performed at room temperature.

16 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein step (e) does not include dry laminating.

17 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the anode active material comprises lithium or a lithium alloy.

18 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the solid electrolyte material in the composite anode component has a lower relative density than the solid electrolyte material in the composite cathode component.

19 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the solid electrolyte material in the composite anode component has a relative density of 50-80% as compared to the maximum density of the solid electrolyte material in the composite anode component.

20 . The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the solid electrolyte material in the composite cathode component has a relative density of 75-99% as compared to the maximum density of the solid electrolyte material in the composite cathode component.