Granted Patent B2

US 12,744,239 · App. 18/349,770 · Granted Sep 22, 2026

Inventors: Steven J. Visco (Berkeley, CA); Yevgeniy S. Nimon (Danville, CA); Bruce D. Katz (Moraga, CA); Vitaliy Nimon (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: PolyPlus Battery Company

H01M10/0562H01M10/0525H01M50/406H01M2300/0068

Abstract

Claims (29)

1 . A method of making a lithium ion conducting sulfide glass, the method comprising:

i) providing a sulfur precursor material comprising sulfur as a main constituent element;

ii) providing a boron precursor material comprising boron as a first constituent element and lithium as a second constituent, the boron precursor material formed by making a lithium boron alloy or intermetallic via chemical reduction of a boron compound to elemental boron by lithium metal;

iii) combining the sulfur and boron precursor materials to form a precursor mixture;

iv) melting the mixture; and

v) cooling the melt to form a solid lithium ion conducting glass having Li + conductivity greater than or equal to 10 −5 S/cm.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the boron precursor material essentially consists of boron and lithium as constituent elements.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the boron precursor material is essentially devoid of magnesium as an impurity element.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the lithium metal derives from a lithium precursor material that comprises lithium as a main constituent element; and further wherein the combining further includes adding the lithium precursor material to the precursor mixture.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein the lithium precursor material is lithium metal.

6 . The method of claim 4 wherein the lithium precursor material is a lithium sulfide compound.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the lithium precursor material is Li 2 S.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sulfur precursor material is elemental sulfur.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the boron precursor material is an alloy of lithium and boron, Li x B.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein x is less than or equal to 1.

11 . The method of claim 9 wherein x is greater than 1.

12 . The method of claim 1 wherein the boron compound is boron oxide.

13 . A method of making a lithium ion conducting sulfide glass, the method comprising:

i) providing a sulfur precursor material comprising sulfur as a main constituent element;

ii) synthesizing a boron precursor material by reducing a boron compound to boron metal of greater than 99% purity by heating the boron compound in direct contact with lithium metal, wherein the boron precursor comprises boron as a first constituent element;

iii) combining the sulfur and boron precursor materials to form a precursor mixture;

iv) melting the precursor mixture; and

v) cooling the melt to form a solid lithium ion conducting glass.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the boron precursor material comprises boron as a first constituent element and lithium as a second constituent element.

15 . The method of claim 13 wherein the reducing the boron compound to boron metal is performed in the absence of magnesium metal.

16 . The method of claim 13 wherein the boron compound is boron oxide.

17 . The method of claim 16 wherein the sulfur precursor material is elemental sulfur.

18 . The method of claim 17 wherein the boron precursor material is an alloy of lithium and boron, Li x B.

19 . The method of claim 13 further comprising providing a lithium precursor material that comprises lithium as a main constituent element; and further wherein the combining includes adding the lithium precursor material to the precursor mixture.

Continuity (19)

References Cited (400)