A lithium-sulfur battery cathode including conductive porous carbon particles vacuum infused with sulfur and a conductive collector substrate to which the sulfur infused porous carbon particles are deposited. The sulfur infused carbon particles are encapsulated by an encapsulation polymer, the encapsulation polymer having ionic conductivity, electronic conductivity, polysulfide affinity, or combinations thereof. A lithium-sulfur battery including the lithium-sulfur battery cathode, a lithium anode and an electrolyte disposed between the sulfur cathode and the lithium anode is also provided. Methods of producing the sulfur cathode for use in a lithium-sulfur battery by a hybrid vacuum-and-melt method are also provided.

An electrode plate which is to be contained in a wound or multilayer electrode body, and which is provided with: a band-like electrode plate core body; mixture layers that are formed on both surfaces of the electrode plate core body; and a tab that extends from one end of the electrode plate core body in the short-side direction. With respect to this electrode plate, the front edge of the electrode plate core body at the end from which the tab extends is covered by the mixture layers.

A method of manufacturing a lithium secondary battery, which includes coating a slurry for forming a porous coating layer on a porous polymer substrate and drying the porous coating layer under a humidified condition to form a preliminary separator; forming an electrode assembly, wherein the preliminary separator is interposed between a positive electrode and a negative electrode, placing the electrode assembly into a battery case and injecting an electrolytic solution into the battery case; and thermally treating the electrode assembly. A lithium secondary battery manufactured by the method is also provided. Accordingly, the separator has significantly improved ionic conductivity compared to separators commonly used in the art.

A solid electrolyte material of the present disclosure includes Li, Zr, and F. A ratio of an amount of substance of Li to an amount of substance of Zr is less than 3.5. In an X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by an X-ray diffraction measurement of the solid electrolyte material using a Cu—Kα ray, a ratio of a value of a full width at half maximum of a peak having a highest intensity within a range of a diffraction angle 2θ from 27.5° to 29.5° to a value of a full width at half maximum of a peak corresponding to a (111) plane of Si in an X-ray diffraction pattern of Si measured under a same condition as in the X-ray diffraction measurement is more than 1.06.

Provided is a method of diagnosing the degradation of a lithium secondary battery in a non-destructive manner without disassembling the battery, which includes: obtaining, from X-ray diffraction (XRD) data obtained during first charging of the lithium secondary battery, a first graph showing the change of the c-axis d-spacing value of the layered positive electrode active material according to the number of moles of lithium ions deintercalated from the layered positive electrode active material during the charging; obtaining, from XRD data obtained during second charging of the lithium secondary battery, a second graph showing the change of the c-axis d-spacing value of the layered positive electrode active material according to the number of moles of lithium ions deintercalated from the layered positive electrode active material during the charging; and classifying a cause of degradation of the secondary battery by comparing the first graph and the second graph.

Provided is a method of diagnosing the degradation of a lithium secondary battery in a non-destructive manner without disassembling the battery, which includes: obtaining, from X-ray diffraction (XRD) data obtained during first charging of the lithium secondary battery, a first graph showing the change of the c-axis d-spacing value of the layered positive electrode active material according to the number of moles of lithium ions deintercalated from the layered positive electrode active material during the charging; obtaining, from XRD data obtained during second charging of the lithium secondary battery, a second graph showing the change of the c-axis d-spacing value of the layered positive electrode active material according to the number of moles of lithium ions deintercalated from the layered positive electrode active material during the charging; and classifying a cause of degradation of the secondary battery by comparing the first graph and the second graph.

An apparatus for pre-lithiating a negative electrode includes a pre-lithiation reactor having a pre-lithiation solution accommodated therein, a high-pressure chamber surrounding the pre-lithiation reactor, wherein an internal air pressure of the high-pressure chamber is configured to exceed atmospheric pressure, at least one lithium metal counter electrode disposed in the pre-lithiation solution, the lithium metal counter electrode being disposed to face a negative electrode receivable in the pre-lithiation solution in a state that the lithium metal counter electrode is spaced apart from the negative electrode by a predetermined interval, and a charge and discharge unit being connectable to the negative electrode and the lithium metal counter electrode to provide a circuit.

An apparatus for pre-lithiating a negative electrode includes a pre-lithiation reactor having a pre-lithiation solution accommodated therein, a high-pressure chamber surrounding the pre-lithiation reactor, wherein an internal air pressure of the high-pressure chamber is configured to exceed atmospheric pressure, at least one lithium metal counter electrode disposed in the pre-lithiation solution, the lithium metal counter electrode being disposed to face a negative electrode receivable in the pre-lithiation solution in a state that the lithium metal counter electrode is spaced apart from the negative electrode by a predetermined interval, and a charge and discharge unit being connectable to the negative electrode and the lithium metal counter electrode to provide a circuit.

The present application relates to a battery module, and the battery module includes a first-type battery cell and a second-type battery cell at least connected in series, the first-type battery cell and the second-type battery cell are battery cells of different chemical systems, the first-type battery cell includes N first battery cell(s), the second-type battery cell includes M second battery cell(s), N and M are positive integers, a specific surface area of a positive active substance of the first battery cell is S1, a specific surface area of a positive active substance of the second battery cell is S2, and S1 and S2 satisfy: 1≤S1/S2≤60.

The present application relates to a battery module, and the battery module includes a first-type battery cell and a second-type battery cell at least connected in series, the first-type battery cell and the second-type battery cell are battery cells of different chemical systems, the first-type battery cell includes N first battery cell(s), the second-type battery cell includes M second battery cell(s), N and M are positive integers, a specific surface area of a positive active substance of the first battery cell is S1, a specific surface area of a positive active substance of the second battery cell is S2, and S1 and S2 satisfy: 1≤S1/S2≤60.