Low voltage sacrificial electrodes

Abstract

A battery cell may include a positive electrode coupled with a positive current collector and a negative electrode coupled with a negative current collector. The battery cell may further include a sacrificial electrode coupled with the negative electrode but not the positive electrode. The sacrificial electrode may be formed from a first material having a lower decomposition voltage than a second material forming the negative current collector. As such, the sacrificial electrode may decompose instead of the negative current collector while the battery cell is discharged below a minimum voltage of the battery cell. In doing so, the sacrificial electrode may preserve the capacity and cycle life of the battery cell even when the battery cell is discharged to a low-voltage state or a zero-voltage state.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.