Air stable lithium sulfide cathode
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorsTimothy S. Arthur, Patrick J. Bonnick, John Muldoon, Erika Nagai
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Abstract
A lithium sulfide (Li2Sw)-lithium phosphorus sulfide (LixPySz) composite, electrochemical cells comprising the same, and methods for making the same are described herein. By the mechanochemical method described herein, the Li2Sw—LixPySz composite can be formed and used as the active material in a positive electrode for a variety of electrochemical cells. It is shown herein that the composite is an electrochemically active cathode material. Further, it has been shown that the Li2Sw—LixPySz composite shows increased resistance to decomposition and H2S generation than Li2S.
Claims20
A lithium sulfur-lithium phosphorus sulfur composite, comprising:
- a lithium sulfide material having an empirical formula of Li2Sw, wherein w is from 2 to 20;
- and
- a lithium phosphorus sulfide material having an empirical formula of LixPySz, wherein x is from 2 to 20, y is from 2 to 20, and z is from 2 to 20.
A lithium solid-state battery comprising:
- a positive electrode active material layer containing a positive electrode active material including a lithium sulfur-lithium phosphorus sulfur composite, comprising:
- a lithium sulfide material having an empirical formula of Li2Sw, wherein w is from 2 to 20;
- and
- a lithium phosphorus sulfide material having an empirical formula of LixPySz, wherein x is from 2 to 20, y is from 2 to 20, and z is from 2 to 20;
- a negative electrode active material layer containing a negative electrode active material;
- and
- a solid electrolyte layer disposed between the positive electrode active material layer and the negative electrode active material layer.
A method for producing a positive electrode active material, the method comprising:
- creating a lithium sulfur mixture by combining lithium sulfide and atomic sulfur;
- mixing the lithium sulfur mixture by a mechanochemical process, the mechanochemical process producing a lithium sulfide material;
- adding a lithium phosphorus sulfur compound to the lithium sulfide material to create a lithium phosphorus sulfur mixture;
- and
- mixing the lithium phosphorus sulfur mixture by a mechanochemical process, the mechanochemical process producing a composite comprising the lithium sulfide material and a lithium phosphorus sulfide material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.