Method of manufacturing a metal-air cell
AssigneeEnergizer Brands, LLC
InventorDiana Dreher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention includes a method of making a catalytic electrode for a metal-air cell in which a carbon-catalyst composite is produced by heating a manganese compound in the presence of a particulate carbon material to form manganese oxide catalyst on the surfaces of the particulate carbon, and then adding virgin particulate carbon material to the carbon-catalyst composite to produce a catalytic mixture that is formed into a catalytic layer. A current collector and an air diffusion layer are added to the catalytic layer to produce the catalytic electrode. The catalytic electrode can be combined with a separator and a negative electrode in a cell housing including an air entry port through which air from outside the container can reach the catalytic electrode.
Claims10
A method of manufacturing a catalytic electrode for a metal-air cell, the method comprising the steps:
- (a) providing a first particulate carbon material consisting essentially of carbon;
- (b) providing a manganese compound;
- (c) wet blending the first particulate carbon material and the manganese compound to form a blended intermediate mixture;
- (d) drying the blended intermediate mixture at a first temperature below the thermal decomposition temperature of the manganese compound;
- (e) producing a carbon-catalyst composite by heating the dried blended intermediate mixture to a thermal decomposition temperature of the manganese compound, at which the manganese compound thermally decomposes to form the carbon-catalyst composite comprising particles of manganese oxide on surfaces of particles of the first particulate carbon material;
- (f) cooling the carbon-catalyst composite;
- (g) producing a catalytic electrode mixture by combining the carbon-catalyst composite with a second particulate carbon consisting essentially of carbon;
- (h) granulating, the catalytic electrode mixture;
- and
- (i)forming a catalytic electrode comprising a layer of the catalytic electrode mixture, an electrically conductive current collector and an air diffusion layer, the air diffusion layer being secured to a surface of the layer of the catalytic mixture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.