THIN-FILM BATTERIES WITH SOFT AND HARD ELECTROLYTE LAYERS AND METHOD
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a battery cell having a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte structure therebetween, wherein the electrolyte structure includes a soft electrolyte layer and at least one hard electrolyte layer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for making thin-film batteries having composite multi-layered electrolytes with soft electrolyte between hard electrolyte covering the negative and/or positive electrode, and the resulting batteries. In some embodiments, foil-core cathode sheets each having a cathode material (e.g., LiCoO2) covered by a hard electrolyte on both sides, and foil-core anode sheets having an anode material (e.g., lithium metal) covered by a hard electrolyte on both sides, are laminated using a soft (e.g., polymer gel) electrolyte sandwiched between alternating cathode and anode sheets. A hard glass-like electrolyte layer obtains a smooth hard positive-electrode lithium-metal layer upon charging, but when very thin, have randomly spaced pinholes/defects. When the hard layers are formed on both the positive and negative electrodes, one electrode'"'"'s dendrite-short-causing defects on are not aligned with the other electrode'"'"'s defects. The soft electrolyte layer both conducts ions across the gap between hard electrolyte layers and fills pinholes.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
a battery cell having a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte structure therebetween, wherein the electrolyte structure includes a soft electrolyte layer and at least one hard electrolyte layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus comprising:
a battery cell having a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte structure therebetween, wherein the electrolyte structure includes a hard electrolyte layer on the positive electrode and a hard electrolyte layer on the negative electrode, and the soft electrolyte layer is sandwiched between the hard electrolyte layer on the positive electrode and the hard electrolyte layer on the negative electrode. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method comprising:
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providing a positive electrode component;
providing a negative electrode component;
coating at least the negative electrode component with a hard electrolyte layer; and
forming a battery cell using the positive electrode component, the negative electrode component that is coated with the hard electrolyte layer, and a soft electrolyte layer in between. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method comprising:
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providing a positive electrode component;
providing a negative electrode component;
coating the negative electrode component with a hard electrolyte layer;
coating the positive electrode component with a hard electrolyte layer; and
forming a battery cell using the positive electrode component that is coated with the hard electrolyte layer, the negative electrode component that is coated with the hard electrolyte layer, and a soft electrolyte layer in between. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An apparatus comprising:
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a positive electrode component coated with a hard electrolyte layer;
a negative electrode component coated with a hard electrolyte layer; and
electrolyte means for connecting the hard electrolyte layer on the negative electrode component to the hard electrolyte layer on the positive electrode component to form a battery cell. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification