A miniature electrochemical cell of a primary or a secondary chemistry with a total volume that is less than 0.5 cc is described. The cell has a casing comprising an annular sidewall supported on a lower plate opposite an upper closure plate. The upper plate has a sealed electrolyte fill port. A current collector having an opening aligned with the fill port contacts an inner surface of the upper plate. An anode active material contacts the lower plate and a cathode active material contacts the upper closure plate. A dielectric material coats the lower open end of the annular sidewall and a portion of the inner surface of the sidewall. A glass seals the dielectric material to the lower plate. An electrolyte contacts the electrode assembly. The cathode active material contacting the current collector has an opening aligned with the current collector opening and the electrolyte fill port.

A redox flow battery includes a negative electrode; a positive electrode; a first liquid which contains a first nonaqueous solvent, a first redox species, and metal ions and which is in contact with the negative electrode; a second liquid which contains a second nonaqueous solvent and which is in contact with the positive electrode; and a metal ion-conducting membrane disposed between the first liquid and the second liquid. The metal ion-conducting membrane includes a porous layer and a resin layer which is in contact with the porous layer and which contains a fluorocarbon resin. The porous layer includes a porous body and a filler which is located in pores of the porous body and which contains a fluorocarbon resin.

A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a sulfur-containing positive electrode, a negative electrode, a nonaqueous electrolyte, and a cation exchange resin layer which is disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode and has a first surface having a roughness factor of 3 or more. A method for producing a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a sulfur-containing positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a cation exchange resin layer which is interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode and has a first surface having a roughness factor of 3 or more. The method includes injecting a lithium polysulfide-containing positive electrode electrolyte between the positive electrode and the cation exchange resin layer, and injecting a negative electrode electrolyte between the negative electrode and the cation exchange resin layer, the negative electrode electrolyte having a lithium polysulfide concentration lower than that of the positive electrode electrolyte.

A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery separator which has a low shutdown temperature, a high mechanical strength, and a high ion permeability is provided. The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery separator contains a polyolefin-based resin as a main component. The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery separator has a maximum heating value of not less than 30 mW/g observed during isothermal crystallization of the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery separator at 128° C.

Disclosed are an electrolyte membrane for a lithium-air battery, a method of manufacturing the same, a cathode for a lithium-air battery, a method of manufacturing the same, and a lithium-air battery including the electrolyte membrane and the cathode. Particularly, the lithium-air battery includes i) an electrolyte membrane, which is manufactured using an inorganic melt admixture including two or more nitrogen-oxide compounds and thus may have a very low eutectic point, and ii) a cathode, which is manufactured by reducing a metal at a fast speed on a carbon material. As such, the lithium-air battery is capable of stably operating even at low temperatures and providing high power output.

A rechargeable manganese battery includes: (1) a first electrode including a porous, conductive support; (2) a second electrode including a catalyst support and a catalyst disposed over the catalyst support; and (3) an electrolyte disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode to support reversible precipitation and dissolution of manganese at the first electrode and reversible evolution and oxidation of hydrogen at the second electrode.

A system and method for optimizing electrochemical cells including electrodes employing coordination compounds by mediating water content within a desired water content profile that includes sufficient coordinated water and reduces non-coordinated water below a desired target and with electrochemical cells including a coordination compound electrochemically active in one or more electrodes, with an improvement in electrochemical cell manufacture that relaxes standards for water content of electrochemical cells having one or more electrodes including one or more such transition metal cyanide coordination compounds.

The present invention is provided to reduce the influence of expansion and contraction of an active material, form a favorable interface between the solid electrolyte and the active material, and increase ion conductivity in the electrolyte, thereby obtaining a wide operation temperature range. A secondary battery composite electrolyte includes an inorganic compound having an Li ion conductivity at room temperature that is 1×10.sup.−10 S/cm or more and having particle diameter of 0.05 μm or more and less than 8 μm, and an organic electrolyte. The weight ratio between the organic electrolyte and the inorganic compound is 0.1% or more and 20% or less.

A method for a tightness test of a test object filled with a liquid, said test object having an internal pressure which is lower than atmospheric pressure, comprising the following steps: inserting the test object into a test chamber, evacuating the test chamber to a pressure which is lower than the internal pressure inside the test object, drawing off the test chamber residual gas components together with gas components desorbing from a wall of the test chamber and parts of the liquid escaping from the test object through a leak in the latter without any carrier gas being fed to the test chamber from outside, transporting the drawn-off residual gas components together with the parts of the liquid escaped from the test object to a detector, and detecting parts of the liquid escaped through a leak in the test object by means of a detector.

Provided are: a dispersant which has good dispersibility and reduces electronic resistance; and a battery having excellent characteristics, which uses this dispersant and is decreased in the ionic resistance and the reaction resistance. A dispersant contains a triazine derivative represented by general formula (1), and an amine or an inorganic base (in general formula (1), R.sup.1 is as defined in the description).