Spacers for providing protection of electrochemical battery enclosures and systems and methods therefor

A method of manufacturing a battery assembly for use with a secondary battery, the battery assembly having mutually perpendicular transverse, longitudinal, and vertical axes corresponding to x, y and z axes, respectively, of a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, the method comprising:

• preparing a unit cell by stacking an electrode current collector layer, an electrode layer, a separator layer, a counter-electrode layer, and a counter-electrode current collector layer in succession in the longitudinal direction, the electrode layer comprises an electrode active material, and the counter-electrode layer comprises a counter-electrode active material, wherein one of the electrode active material and the counter-electrode active material is a cathodically active material and the other of the electrode active material and the counter-electrode active material is an anodically active material, and
• placing a population of extended spacer members in the stacked succession between the electrode current collector layer and the counter-electrode current collector layer, one of the extended spacer members being spaced in the y-axis direction from the other extended spacer member, the x-axis extent of the extended spacer members being a distance SD greater than the x-axis extent of the unit cell.

An electrode assembly for a secondary battery, the electrode assembly having mutually perpendicular transverse, longitudinal, and vertical axes corresponding to x, y and z axes, respectively, of a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, the electrode assembly comprising:

• a unit cell comprising an electrode current collector layer, an electrode layer, a separator layer, a counter-electrode layer, and a counter-electrode current collector layer in succession in the longitudinal direction, the electrode layer comprises an electrode active material, and the counter-electrode layer comprises a counter-electrode active material, wherein one of the electrode active material and the counter-electrode active material is a cathodically active material and the other of the electrode active material and the counter-electrode active material is an anodically active material, and
• a population of extended spacer members between the electrode current collector layer and the counter-electrode current collector layer, one of the extended spacer members being spaced in the y-axis direction from the other extended spacer member, the x-axis extent of the extended spacer members being a distance SD greater than the x-axis extent of the unit cell.