Battery Chemistries for Ultra-fast Charging

A method for preparing a silicon monoxide composite material with improved electrical conductivity and initial coulombic efficiency compared to pure silicon monoxide for use in lithium-ion batteries. The method involves growing carbon nanotubes directly on the surface of the silicon monoxide using an in-situ catalyst. This provides a uniform carbon coating with nanotubes and a small amount of amorphous carbon that improves electrical conductivity and reduces volume variations during charging/discharging compared to adding carbon externally.

A positive electrode active material for lithium-ion batteries that retains its structure and capacity after repeated charge/discharge cycles. The material has a surface region with higher concentration of an additive element X compared to the interior. This reinforces the outer surface and prevents breakage of the layered structure as lithium is extracted during charging. The higher X content surface helps the material maintain its structure and capacity over cycles compared to a homogeneous composition.

Electrolyte solution for lithium batteries that improves output, storage, and cycle life at high temperatures by adding specific additives to the electrolyte. The electrolyte contains a lithium salt, organic solvent, and two additives. One additive is a compound with a vinyl group and the other has 3-5 atoms, double bonds, and electronegative atoms. These additives reduce resistance, improve recovery capacity, and suppress gas generation compared to conventional electrolytes.

Active material for high capacity lithium-ion batteries with improved initial charge-discharge efficiency and cycling performance. The active material is a composite oxide with a tetragonal crystal structure represented by the general formula LiaTibNb2-2dMc+2dO2b+5+3c, where M is W or Mo and the subscripts satisfy certain constraints. This composite oxide provides high charge/discharge capacity per volume compared to traditional carbon anodes. It shows favorable initial efficiency and cycling stability in lithium-ion batteries.

Reducing volume change of battery active materials during charging/discharging by creating a porous structure inside the material particles. The method involves preparing a LiSi precursor with a specific crystal phase, then extracting Li using a solvent to form voids in the precursor. This step creates a porous active material with reduced volume change compared to non-porous materials. The specific crystal phase is Li22Si5.

Carbon-based materials, fabrication methods, and energy storage devices with improved performance. The carbon materials have high surface area, pore size, and oxygen content. They can be made using a modified Hummers' method or a non-Hummers' method. The modified Hummers' method involves cooling the graphite and sulfuric acid mixture before oxidation. The non-Hummers' method involves adding potassium permanganate, agitating, cooling, and hydrogen peroxide. These materials can be used as active materials in lithium-ion battery electrodes, coating on lithium metal negative electrodes, or asymmetric supercapacitor electrodes.

Negative electrode for lithium metal batteries with improved cycle life and reduced volumetric change during charging. The negative electrode has a protective layer on the lithium metal surface with particles sizes between 1-100 microns. The protective layer has a Young's modulus of 106 Pa or greater. This provides mechanical strength to prevent dendrite growth and volumetric expansion during charging. The protective layer also improves lithium deposition density compared to bare lithium metal electrodes.

Anode material for lithium-ion batteries that addresses the limitations of pure silicon anodes in improving battery performance. The anode is a composite made of agglomerated nanocomposites where each nanocomposite has a dendritic nanoparticle of silicon or other Group 4A element surrounded by discrete non-porous nanoparticles of the same element. The dendritic nanoparticles interconnect in the agglomerated nanocomposites to form a porous structure. This allows volume expansion of the silicon during charging without separating from the current collector. The composite anode also has improved electrical conductivity compared to pure silicon.

Electrode assembly design for batteries to improve electrolyte impregnation and reduce internal resistance. The electrode has slits in the uncoated portions along the circumference and radial direction. These slits allow electrolyte to pass through and uniformly fill the electrode stack. The slits also provide wider contact areas when bent to secure the electrode tabs. This reduces internal resistance and improves coupling strength compared to unslotted electrodes.

Lithium electrode for batteries with a protective layer to prevent dendrite growth in lithium metal anodes. The protective layer is a composite of two layers: a first layer close to the lithium metal with high ion conductivity, and a second layer further from the lithium metal with high electrical conductivity and mechanical strength. The first layer allows lithium ions to pass and prevents lithium depletion. The second layer transfers electrons to the lithium surface and prevents localized current density. The composite layer structure inhibits dendrite growth and improves battery performance compared to single-layer coatings.

Active material for high-performance lithium-ion battery negative electrodes that balances capacity, cycle life, and energy density. The active material contains both Nb2TiO7 and Nb-rich phases like Nb10Ti2O29, Nb14TiO37, and Nb24TiO64. It also has optimized particle size distribution and contains potassium and phosphorus. The Nb-rich phases improve overcharge resistance and cycle life. The potassium and phosphorus help suppress particle growth during synthesis. The particle size distribution is fine enough for good rate performance but not excessively small to prevent cracking during cycling.

Additive materials for lithium-ion batteries that prevent or reduce manganese dissolution during charging/discharging cycles. The additive materials are compounds with the general formula Mn+1AXn, where M is an early transition metal, n is 1-3, A is a group 13/14 element, and X is C or N. These MAX compounds have improved thermodynamic stability compared to manganese and can be added to lithium-ion battery cathodes to decrease manganese dissolution in the electrolyte. This improves battery performance by preventing capacity loss and structural changes caused by manganese leaching.

Lithium nickel-based oxide positive electrode material for solid-state batteries with improved first charge capacity. The material contains Li, Ni, Mn, Co, D, and Zr oxides. The Ni content is 50-85%, Mn and Co are 0-40%, D is 0-2 mol % of other elements, and Zr is 0.1-5 mol %. The Zr content in the surface layer is around 0.1-0.5 at %. This composition and Zr surface enrichment provide a high first charge capacity of at least 160 mAh/g in solid-state batteries.

Lithium nickel-based oxide positive electrode active material for solid-state batteries in electric vehicles with improved charge capacity. The material contains nickel, cobalt, manganese, optional dopants like aluminum or boron, and zirconium. The nickel content is 50-75 mol %, zirconium is 0.1-5 mol %, and the zirconium content in the surface layer is around 0.1 at %. This composition improves the first charge capacity to at least 160 mAh/g in solid-state batteries. The zirconium-doped lithium nickel oxide provides a higher charge capacity compared to traditional lithium nickel oxide materials in solid-state batteries.

Electrolyte for lithium batteries with improved charging efficiency, high temperature recovery capacity, and long term storage stability. The electrolyte contains specific additives, compounds represented by Chemical Formulas 1 to 6, that when added to the battery electrolyte improve charging resistance, high temperature recovery capacity, and capacity retention at high temperatures compared to conventional electrolytes. The additives are 1,3,2-dioxaphospholane-2-yl diethyl phosphite, 2-((trimethylsilyl)oxy)-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane, and other related compounds. The electrolyte composition includes 0.1-10% of these additives along with lithium salt and organic solvents.

Negative electrode design for lithium-ion batteries that improves energy density without compromising cycle life or fast charging performance. The negative electrode plate has two layers of negative active material. The lower layer uses natural graphite with a powder orientation index (OI) of 4.0-7.0. The upper layer uses artificial graphite with a lower OI of 2.2-4.2. This configuration improves binding force between the layers and pore structure for faster ion transport. It allows higher film thicknesses for energy density without film stripping or loss of packing.

Lithium-ion battery with improved cycling life, energy density, and safety by mixing single crystal and polycrystal positive electrode materials in separate cells. The battery has a bare cell cavity with separate cells containing either a single crystal low-nickel positive electrode or a polycrystal high-nickel positive electrode. This allows leveraging the shrinkage property of polycrystal high-nickel materials at high charge levels to reduce stress on the negative electrode and prevent lithium plating. The single crystal low-nickel materials mitigate issues of gas production, safety, and storage degradation at high charge levels.

A lithium-ion battery electrolyte composition with improved cycle life, safety, and kinetics compared to conventional carbonate-based electrolytes. The composition uses a high oxidation potential solvent like FSI instead of carbonates, along with a cyclic sulfate additive. The high oxidation potential solvent provides better oxidation resistance and flammability compared to carbonates. The cyclic sulfate additive suppresses side reactions of the high oxidation potential solvent on the negative electrode and improves interface film formation. This allows higher voltage, faster charging, and longer cycle life.

A composite interlayer for lithium metal solid-state batteries to improve cycle life and reduce impedance at the lithium metal/solid electrolyte interface. The interlayer is formed by coating the lithium metal with a mixture of lithium nitrate, dimethoxyethane, and trimethyl phosphate. This coating is applied to the lithium metal for 1-2 hours, then dried to form the interlayer between the lithium metal and solid electrolyte. The interlayer contains an ionic conductor, like lithium nitrate, dispersed in an organic matrix. This composite interlayer suppresses side reactions between lithium metal and the solid electrolyte, reducing impedance, and improves cycle life compared to bare lithium metal.

Electrolyte solution for lithium batteries that improves output characteristics, high-temperature storage, and reduces gas generation and thickness increase. The electrolyte contains a specific combination of additives: a first additive is a compound with a structure represented by Formula 1, and a second additive is a compound with 3-5 atoms, 2-4 atoms of high electronegativity, at least one double bond, and an atomic group represented by Formula 2. Adding these compounds to the electrolyte enhances battery performance, reduces resistance, improves recovery capacity at high temperatures, and reduces gas generation and thickness increase.