US-12620613-B2 - Dimensional constraints for three-dimensional batteries

US12620613B2US 12620613 B2US12620613 B2US 12620613B2US-12620613-B2

Abstract

A secondary battery is provided for cycling between a charged and a discharged state, the secondary battery including a battery enclosure, an electrode assembly, carrier ions, a non-aqueous liquid electrolyte within the battery enclosure, and a set of electrode constraints. The set of electrode constraints includes a primary constraint system having first and second primary growth constraints and at least one primary connecting member, the first and second primary growth constraints separated from each other in the longitudinal direction, wherein the primary constraint array restrains growth of the electrode assembly in the longitudinal direction such that any increase in the Feret diameter of the electrode assembly in the longitudinal direction over 20 consecutive cycles of the secondary battery is less than 20%. The set of electrode constraints further includes a secondary constraint system having first and second secondary growth constraints connected by at least one secondary connecting member, wherein the secondary constraint system at least partially restrains growth of the electrode assembly in a second direction upon cycling of the secondary battery.

Inventors

Robert S. Busacca
John F. Varni
Kim Han LEE
Nirav S. Shah
Richard J. CONTRERAS
Lynn Van Erden
Vladimir DIOUMAEV
Ashok Lahiri
Murali Ramasubramanian
Bruno A. VALDES
Gardner Cameron DALES
Christopher J. Spindt
Geoffrey Matthew HO
Harrold J. Rust, III
James D. Wilcox

Assignees

ENOVIX CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20250522

Claims (20)

1 . A device for electrical charging and discharging, the device comprising: electrolytic cells stacked along an axis to form an electrode assembly, the electrode assembly being configured for repeated electrical charging and discharging in cycles at least in part by utilizing charge carriers comprising alkaline ions, alkaline earth ions, or aluminum ions, each of the electrolytic cells having an anode active material including an allotrope of elemental carbon and/or silicon; and an enclosure configured to enclose the electrode assembly that undergoes an alteration of a volume of the electrode assembly, the alteration of the volume resulting in application of pressure on the enclosure, the alteration of the volume occurring during the cycles, the enclosure comprising a constraint system, (i) the enclosure being a component of the constraint system, (ii) the enclosure being a single unitary member, (iii) the constraint system comprising components welded to each other, or (iv) any combination of (i), (ii), and (iii), the enclosure being configured to restrain a volumetric growth of the electrode assembly in a direction, the direction being along the axis or orthogonal to the axis, the enclosure being configured to restrain the volumetric growth of the electrode assembly in the direction such that an increase in a Feret diameter of the electrode assembly in the direction over 20 cycles of the device is less than 20%, the cycles being consecutive, the constraint system (a) having a tensile strength configured for the application of pressure on the enclosure during the cycles that are consecutive, (b) comprising an elemental metal, (c) comprising a metal alloy, or (d) comprising any combination of (a), (b), and (c).
2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the device restrains growth of the electrode assembly in the direction such that an increase in a Feret diameter of the electrode assembly in the direction over 1000 consecutive cycles of the device is less than 20%.
3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the charge carriers comprise lithium ions.
4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the electrical charging and discharging is between a charged state that is charged to at least 75% of a rated capacity of the electrode assembly, and a discharged state that is discharged less than 25% of the rated capacity.
5 . The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the electrolytic cells comprises an electrode active material including silicon.
6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is configured to restrain a growth of the volume of the electrode assembly along the axis.
7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is configured to restrain a growth of the volume of the electrode assembly in the direction orthogonal to the axis.
8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises an electrolyte that is non-aqueous.
9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the electrolyte is a liquid.
10 . The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the electrolytic cells comprises an anode, a cathode, and a separator configured for traversal of the charge carriers therethrough during the cycles.
11 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the electrode assembly includes at least 10 of the electrolytic cells.
12 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the electrode assembly includes at least 10 electrodes.
13 . The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the electrolytic cells comprises an electrode, the electrode having a rectangular cross section having a width perpendicular to a height, the width to height of the electrode being at least about 1:5.
14 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is a rectangular prism.
15 . The device of claim 14 , wherein the rectangular prism is elongated.
16 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the electrolytic cells include at least 10 electrolytic cells, each of the electrolytic cells comprises an electrode, the electrode having a rectangular cross section having a width perpendicular to a height, the width to height of each of the electrodes is at least about 1:5.
17 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is configured such that two terminal tabs project out of a side of the enclosure having a shape of a rectangular prism, to facilitate the electrical charging and discharging.
18 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the device is configured to power consumer electronics.
19 . The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the electrolytic cells comprises a separator, each of the electrolytic cells comprising a polymer in a component other than the separator, the component being of each of the electrolytic cells.
20 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the allotrope of elemental carbon comprises graphite, soft carbon, or hard carbon.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/599,952, filed on Mar. 8, 2024, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/903,250 filed on Sep. 6, 2022, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,961,952, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/335,725 filed on Jun. 1, 2021, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,444,310, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/241,159 filed on Jan. 7, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,081,718, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/889,338 filed on Feb. 6, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,177,400, which is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/US2017/032355 filed May 12, 2017, which claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Patent Application No. 62/335,912 filed on May 13, 2016 and claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Patent Application No. 62/422,958 filed on Nov. 16, 2016, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. FIELD OF THE INVENTION This disclosure generally relates to structures for use in energy storage devices, to energy storage devices employing such structures, and to methods for producing such structures and energy devices. BACKGROUND Rocking chair or insertion secondary batteries are a type of energy storage device in which carrier ions, such as lithium, sodium, potassium, calcium or magnesium ions, move between a positive electrode and a negative electrode through an electrolyte. The secondary battery may comprise a single battery cell, or two or more battery cells that have been electrically coupled to form the battery, with each battery cell comprising a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a microporous separator, and an electrolyte. In rocking chair battery cells, both the positive and negative electrodes comprise materials into which a carrier ion inserts and extracts. As a cell is discharged, carrier ions are extracted from the negative electrode and inserted into the positive electrode. As a cell is charged, the reverse process occurs: the carrier ion is extracted from the positive and inserted into the negative electrode. When the carrier ions move between electrodes, one of the persistent challenges resides in the fact that the electrodes tend to expand and contract as the battery is repeatedly charged and discharged. The expansion and contraction during cycling tends to be problematic for reliability and cycle life of the battery because when the electrodes expand, electrical shorts and battery failures occur. Therefore, there remains a need for controlling the expansion and contraction of electrodes during battery cycling to improve reliability and cycle life of the battery. SUMMARY Briefly, therefore, one aspect of this disclosure relates to the implementation of constraint structures to mitigate or prevent the macroscopic expansion of electrodes, thereby improving the energy density, reliability, and cycle life of batteries. According to one aspect, a secondary battery is provided for cycling between a charged and a discharged state, the secondary battery having a battery enclosure, an electrode assembly, carrier ions, a non-aqueous liquid electrolyte within the battery enclosure, and a set of electrode constraints. The electrode assembly has mutually perpendicular longitudinal, transverse, and vertical axes, a first longitudinal end surface and a second longitudinal end surface separated from each other in the longitudinal direction, and a lateral surface surrounding an electrode assembly longitudinal axis AEA and connecting the first and second longitudinal end surfaces, the lateral surface having opposing first and second regions on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis and separated in a first direction that is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis, the electrode assembly having a maximum width WEA measured in the longitudinal direction, a maximum length LEA bounded by the lateral surface and measured in the transverse direction, and a maximum height HEA bounded by the lateral surface and measured in the vertical direction, the ratio of each of LEA and WEA to HEA being at least 2:1, respectively. The electrode assembly has a population of electrode structures, a population of counter-electrode structures, and an electrically insulating microporous separator material electrically separating members of the electrode and counter-electrode populations, members of the electrode and counter-electrode structure populations being arranged in an alternating sequence in the longitudinal direction. Each member of the population of electrode structures has a layer of an electrode active material and each member of the population of counter-electrode structures comprises a layer of a counter-electrode active material, wherein the electrode active material has the capacity to accept more than one mole of carrier ion per mole of electrode active material when the secondary battery is charged from