Reversible electrode material

• US 5,324,599 A
• Filed: 01/27/1992
• Issued: 06/28/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Naoi, Katsuhiko, Kanbara, Teruhisa, Sotomura, Tadashi, Uemachi, Hiroshi, Oyama, Noboru, Sato, Yoshiko, Takeyama, Kenichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Maples, John S.
• Application Number:
  US07/826,000
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 429/213, 429/191, 429/192, 252/182.1, 525/417, 525/540
• US Class Current: 429/312
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/052 Li-accumulators
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/0565 Polymeric materials, e.g. gel-type or solid-type
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 4/60 of organic compounds
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

The present invention provides an electrode material comprising a combination of a compound having a disulfide group and a conductive polymer, or a conductive polymer having a disulfide group, wherein an S-S bond of the disulfide group is cleaved by the electrolytic reduction to form a sulfur-metal ion bond or a sulfur-proton bond, and the sulfur-metal ion bond or the sulfur-proton bond re-forms an S-S bond by the electrolytic oxidation. The present invention also provides a lithium rechargeable battery comprising a cathode, a solid electrolyte, and an anode, wherein the cathode is made of a composition containing as its main components lithium thiolate having a sulfur-lithium ion bond capable of forming a disulfide bond by the electrolytic oxidation and a π electron conjugated conductive polymer; or a composition containing as its main component a π electron conjugated conductive polymer having a sulfur-lithium ion bond capable of forming a disulfide bond by electrolytic oxidation; the solid electrolyte is a composition containing a salt containing lithium, or a polymer containing the salt; and the anode is made of a composition containing as its main components aluminium or an alloy containing aluminium, and carbon.

Claims

1. A lithium secondary battery comprising a cathode, a solid electrolyte, and an anode,

wherein the cathode is made of (a) a composition containing as its main components lithium thiolate having a sulfur-lithium ion bond capable of forming a disulfide bond by electrolytic oxidation and a π

electron conjugated conductive polymer, or (b) a composition containing as its main component a π

electron conjugated conductive polymer having a sulfur-lithium ion bond capable of forming a disulfide bond by electrolytic oxidation;

wherein the solid electrolyte is made of a composition containing as its main component a salt containing lithium, or polymer containing a salt containing lithium; and

wherein the anode is made of a composition containing as its main components aluminium or an alloy containing aluminium, and carbon.

2. A lithium secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the electrolyte is mixed with a composition forming the cathode or a composition forming the anode.

3. A lithium secondary battery according to claim 1, wherein the solid electrolyte comprises a polyether obtained by adding at least one selected from the group consisting of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide to a polyamide;

an ion-exchangeable compound having a layered crystal structure; and

a lithium salt represented by LiX (wherein X is a strong acid anion).

4. An electrode material for reversibly performing electrolytic reduction and electrolytic oxidation, comprising

(a) a combination of an organic compound having a disulfide group and a conductive polymer, or

(b) a conductive polymer having a main chain, said conductive polymer comprising a disulfide group which is not a part of said main chain,

wherein an S-S bond of the disulfide group is cleaved by the electrolytic reduction and re-formed by the electrolytic oxidation.

5. An electrode material according to claim 4, which comprises a combination of an organic compound having a disulfide group and a conductive polymer, wherein the organic compound having a disulfide group has a cleavable disulfide bond in its molecule.

6. An electrode material according claim 4, wherein the conductive polymer having a disulfide group is obtained by introducing a disulfide group into a π

electron conjugated conductive polymer.

7. An electrode material according to claim 4, wherein the conductive polymer having a disulfide group is obtained by electrolytic polymerization of a monomer which has a disulfide group and is capable of forming a π

electron conjugated conductive polymer.