A negative electrode for a lithium-metal secondary battery, which has a wide specific surface area and a current density distribution that can be uniformly implemented, and a lithium-metal secondary battery including the same.

An electrochemical cell comprising a lithium metal negative electrode layer physically and chemically bonded to a surface of a negative electrode current collector via an intermediate metal chalcogenide layer. The intermediate metal chalcogenide layer may comprise a metal oxide, a metal sulfide, a metal selenide, or a combination thereof. The intermediate metal chalcogenide layer may be formed on the surface of the negative electrode current collector by exposing the surface to a chalcogen in gas phase. Then, the lithium metal negative electrode layer may be formed on the surface of the negative electrode current collector over the intermediate metal chalcogenide layer by contacting at least a portion of the metal chalcogenide layer with a source of lithium such that the lithium actively wets the metal chalcogenide layer and forms a conformal lithium metal layer on the surface of the negative electrode current collector over the metal chalcogenide layer.

An electrochemical cell comprising an alkali metal negative electrode layer physically and chemically bonded to a surface of a negative electrode current collector via an intermediate metal chalcogenide layer. The intermediate metal chalcogenide layer may comprise a metal oxide, a metal sulfide, a metal selenide, or a combination thereof. The intermediate metal chalcogenide layer may be formed on the surface of the negative electrode current collector by exposing the surface to a chalcogen or a chalcogen donor compound. Then, the alkali metal negative electrode layer may be formed on the surface of the negative electrode current collector over the intermediate metal chalcogenide layer by contacting at least a portion of the metal chalcogenide layer with a source of sodium or potassium to form a layer of sodium or potassium on the surface of the negative electrode current collector over the metal chalcogenide layer.

In a method of manufacturing an electrochemical cell, a porous or non-porous metal substrate may be provided. A precursor solution may be applied to a surface of the metal substrate. The precursor solution may comprise a chalcogen donor compound dissolved in a solvent. The precursor solution may be applied to the surface of the metal substrate such that the chalcogen donor compound reacts with the metal substrate and forms a conformal metal chalcogenide layer on the surface of the metal substrate. A conformal lithium metal layer may be formed on the surface of the metal substrate over the metal chalcogenide layer.

Implementations described herein generally relate to low melting temperature metal or alloy metal deposition and processing. More particularly, the implementations described herein relate to methods and systems for low melting temperature metal or alloy metal deposition and processing for printed electronics and electrochemical devices. In yet another implementation, a method is provided. The method comprises exposing a molten metal source to a purification process to remove unwanted quantities of contaminants, delivering the filtered molten metal to a three dimensional printing device, and forming a metal film on a substrate by printing the filtered molten metal on the substrate. The purification process comprises delivering the molten metal to a filter assembly, wherein the filter assembly includes at least one of: a skimmer device, a metal mesh filter, and a foam filter, and filtering the molten metal through the filter assembly.

Battery systems using doped conversion materials as the active material in battery cathodes are provided herein. Doped conversion material may include a defect-rich structure or an amorphous or glassy structure, including at least one or more of a metal material, one or more oxidizing species, a reducing cation species, and a dopant. Methods for fabricating batteries and battery systems with doped conversion material are also provided herein.

Embodiments described herein relate generally to lithium sulfur batteries and methods of producing the same. As described herein, preventing coarsening of sulfur during the well-known melt-diffusion processing of cathodes allows a high areal capacity of 10.7 mAh/cm.sup.2 at current density of 3.4 mA/cm.sup.2 (C-rate of 1/5 h.sup.1). The addition of a lithium salt, such as LiTFSI, prior to melt-diffusion can prevent coarsening of molten sulfur and allows creation of a sulfur electrode with a high concentration of triple-phase junctions for electrochemical reaction. In some embodiments, approximately 60-70% utilization of the theoretical capacity of sulfur is reached at a high loading (e.g., greater than 7.5 mg S/cm.sup.2). The electrodes are prepared in lean-electrolyte environment of 3 ml.sub.electrolyte/g.sub.sulfur (70 vol % of electrolyte in the electrode) for high areal capacity in LiS batteries.

A method produces an electrochemical cell for a solid-state battery having a negative electrode, a positive electrode and a lithium-ion-conducting solid electrolyte arranged between the negative electrode and the positive electrode. The negative electrode has a layer of metallic lithium which directly adjoins the solid electrolyte. In order to produce the electrochemical cell, the layer of metallic lithium is heated until it softens before being joined together with the solid electrolyte. An electrochemical cell includes the negative electrode with a layer of metallic lithium which directly adjoins the solid electrolyte, and a layer of a lithium-metal alloy on the layer of metallic lithium.

An electrode current collector comprises a metal foil, an electrically-conductive resin layer, and a carbon particle layer in this order. The electrically-conductive resin layer includes a contiguous phase and a dispersed phase. The contiguous phase includes a resin material. The dispersed phase includes electrically-conductive particles. The carbon particle layer includes electrically-conductive carbon particles.

This invention relates to polymer-based electrodes comprising at least one layer containing: a continuous, solid and porous electroactive polymer material, and liquid electrolyte present in the pores of the electroactive polymer material. As a result of the modified morphology of the polymer layer thin-film charge-storage devices using these polymer-based electrodes exhibit improved charge-storage and current output and enable manufacturing of a gradual continuum between batteries and supercapacitors. In addition, the invention relates to methods of producing the above polymer-based electrodes and thin-film charge-storage devices.