Back to results
US 6,171,729 B2Granted
Control of swelling in alkali metal electrochemical cells
AssigneeWilson Greatbatch Ltd.
InventorsHong Gan, Esther S. Takuchi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An alkali metal/solid cathode electrochemical cell, particularly a Li/SVO cell, having an anode-to-cathode (A/C) capacity ratio of about 0.68 to about 0.96, is described. This provides the cell with negligible, if any, cell swelling during discharge.
Claims13
A method for discharging an electrochemical cell, comprising the steps of:
- a) providing the electrochemical cell comprising:
- a casing;
- an anode comprising lithium as an anode active material;
- and
- a cathode comprised of silver vanadium oxide as a cathode active material;
- b) operatively associating the anode with the cathode housed inside the casing with the anode active material and the cathode active material in a maximum anode-to-cathode capacity ratio of 0.68 to about 0.96 based on the gram amount of anode and cathode active materials with a theoretical maximum capacity of 7.0 equivalents of lithium required to completely discharge one equivalent of silver vanadium oxide and wherein the anode and the cathode are connected to respective terminals;
- c) activating the anode and the cathode with an electrolyte filled into the casing;
- and
- d) discharging the cell to the anode-to-cathode capacity ratio of 0.68 to about 0.96.
6 more elements
A method for discharging an electrochemical cell, comprising the steps of:
- a) providing the electrochemical cell comprising:
- a casing;
- an anode comprising lithium as an anode active material;
- a cathode comprised of silver vanadium oxide as a cathode active material;
- b) activating the anode and the cathode with an electrolyte filled into the casing, wherein the electrolyte is capable of catalytically forming propene gas during cell discharge and wherein based on a theoretical maximum capacity of 7.0 equivalent of lithium intercalated into one equivalent of silver vanadium oxide, there is an excess of the cathode active material to the anode active material in terms of delivered capacity;
- and
- c) discharging the cell so that the catalyst for forming gaseous propene is essentially not formed by the cell having a maximum anode-to-cathode capacity of 4.8 to about 6.7 units of lithium per unit of silver vanadium oxide, thereby limiting the percent total cell thickness change throughout discharge to less than about 10 percent.
4 more elements
A method for discharging an electrochemical cell, comprising the steps of:
- a) providing the electrochemical cell comprising:
- a casing;
- an anode comprising lithium as an anode active material;
- and
- a cathode comprised of silver vanadium oxide as a cathode active material;
- b) activating the anode and the cathode with an electrolyte filled into the casing, wherein the electrolyte comprises propylene carbonate;
- and
- c) discharging the cell to form a lithiated cathode material having the general formula LixAg2V4O11 with x being 4.8 to about 6.7 units of lithium per unit of silver vanadium oxide.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.