A method of manufacturing a free-standing electrode film includes preparing a mixture including an electrode active material, a binder, and an additive solution or conductive paste, the additive solution or conductive paste being in an amount less than 5% by weight of the mixture and including a polymer additive and a liquid carrier, as well as a conductive material in the case of a conductive paste. The mixture may have total solid contents greater than 95% by weight. Preparing the mixture may include mixing the additive solution or conductive paste with the electrode active material to lubricate the electrode active material and subsequently adding and mixing in the binder. The method may further include subjecting the mixture to a shear force and, after the mixture has been subjected to the shear force, pressing the mixture into a free-standing film.

The present invention relates to an additive for an electrochemical element positive electrode comprising an activated carbon, wherein the activated carbon has a specific surface area in accordance with BET method of 1300-2500 m.sup.2/g, a pore volume of pores having a diameter of 2 nm or more of 0.35 cm.sup.3/g or less, a pore volume of pores having a diameter less than 2 nm of 0.5 cm.sup.3/g or more, and an ash content of 0.5% by weight or less.

Provided herein is an electrochemical cell designed for high current discharge, which includes a cathode strip, an anode strip, and at least two separator strips, being longitudinally stacked to form an electrodes set that is folded into at least four segments and designed to exhibit a ratio of its nominal capacity per its active area lower than 12 mAh/cm.sup.2, such that the cell is characterized by a discharge efficiency at room temperature of at least 30% to a cut-off voltage of ⅔ of its original voltage at a discharge current of 1,250 mA. Also provided are process of manufacturing, and uses of the cell, which is particularly useful in high drain-rate applications as charging a cellular phone.

Disclosed is an aluminum ion capacitor, including a separator, an anode and a cathode, between which the separator is interposed, and an electrolyte contacting the anode and the cathode, wherein the anode contains aluminum, the electrolyte contains aluminum ions, and an electrical double layer is formed at the cathode and intercalation and deintercalation of aluminum ions are performed at the anode. Accordingly, a supercapacitor having increased energy density can be effectively manufactured at lower cost than lithium ion capacitors, and also, the supercapacitor has high material stability and thus is not limited as to electrode configuration, and an electrode configuration that has a low manufacturing cost and is able to increase energy density and power density can be adopted.

An electrode for an energy storage device is disclosed. The electrode includes an active layer. The active layer includes a network of high aspect ratio carbon elements defining void spaces within the network, a plurality of electrode active material particles disposed in the void spaces within the network, and a polymeric additive, the polymeric additive being at least one of (i) selected from a family of polyamides, or (ii) a modified polyamide or derivative of a polyamide.

Provided herein is an electrochemical cell designed for high current discharge, which includes a cathode strip, an anode strip, and at least two separator strips, being longitudinally stacked to form an electrodes set that is folded into at least four segments and designed to exhibit a ratio of its nominal capacity per its active area lower than 12 mAh/cm.sup.2, such that the cell is characterized by a discharge efficiency at room temperature of at least 30% to a cut-off voltage of ⅔ of its original voltage at a discharge current of 1,250 mA. Also provided are process of manufacturing, and uses of the cell, which is particularly useful in high drain-rate applications as charging a cellular phone.

The present invention provides a thin film forming composition for energy storage device electrodes, said composition containing a conductive carbon material, a dispersant, a solvent and a polymer that has a partial structure represented by formula (P1) in a side chain. ##STR00001##
(In the formula, L represents —O— or —NH—; R represents an alkylene group having from 1 to 20 carbon atoms; T represents a substituted or unsubstituted amino group, a nitrogen-containing heteroaryl group having from 2 to 20 carbon atoms or a nitrogen-containing aliphatic heterocyclic group having from 2 to 20 carbon atoms; and * represents a bonding hand.)

Electrode for storing electrical energy including a metal current collector and an active material, the current collector being coated on at least one portion of one of its faces with at least one protective layer placed between the current collector and the active material, the protective layer including: (A) a polymer matrix including: (A1) at least one cross-linked epoxy polymer or copolymer, (A2) at least one elastomer, and (B) conductive fillers. This system is used in aqueous electrolyte supercapacitors, the protective layer allowing a very significant reduction in corrosion problems that are generally associated with the use of aqueous electrolytes to be achieved and the adhesion of the active material to the metal collector to be improved.

The present invention is a lithium-phosphorus-based composite oxide/carbon composite used for a positive electrode active material of an electrochemical device, including lithium-phosphorus-based composite oxide with the surface being coated with carbon, wherein the lithium-phosphorus-based composite oxide/carbon composite has elutable fluoride ions, which are eluted to an elute from the composite dispersed to ultrapure water, in a mass ratio of 500 ppm or more and 15000 ppm or less in comparison with the lithium-phosphorus-based composite oxide/carbon composite, and the lithium-phosphorus-based composite oxide has a composition of the following general formula (1):

Li.sub.1-xFe.sub.1-zM.sub.zPO.sub.4-aF.sub.a(−0.1≦x<1,0≦z≦1,0≦a≦4)  (1)

(wherein, M represents one or more kinds of metal element selected from the group of Mn, Ni, Co, V, Cr, Al, Nb, Ti, Cu, and Zn). This provides a lithium-phosphorus-based composite oxide/carbon composite that gives higher charge/discharge capacity when it is used as a positive electrode active material of an electrochemical device even though a trivalent-containing raw material is used.

An electrically conductive porous composite composed of an expanded microsphere matrix binding a material composition having electrical conductivity properties to form an electrically conductive porous composite is disclosed herein. An energy storage device incorporating the electrically conductive porous composite is also disclosed herein.