A nanofluid contact potential difference cell includes a cathode with a lower work function and an anode with a higher work function separated by a nanometer-scale spaced inter-electrode gap containing a nanofluid with intermediate work function nanoparticle clusters. The cathode comprises a refractory layer and a thin film of electrosprayed dipole nanoparticle clusters partially covering a surface of the refractory layer. A thermal power source, placed in thermal contact with the cathode, to drive an electrical current through an electrical circuit connecting the cathode and anode with an external electrical load in between. A switch is configured to intermittently connect the anode and the cathode to maintain non-equilibrium between a first current from the cathode to the anode and a second current from the anode to the cathode.

An electrochemical cell includes a. a cathode capable of reversibly accommodating lithium ions; b. an anode containing metallic lithium as active material; and c. a separator arranged between the cathode and the anode, wherein d. the anode includes a porous, electrically conductive matrix having an open-pored structure; and e. the metallic lithium of the anode is incorporated in pores of the matrix.

A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to one embodiment of the present disclosure comprises a positive electrode, a negative electrode and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution; the negative electrode comprises a negative electrode collector and a negative electrode active material layer that is provided on the negative electrode collector; the negative electrode active material layer contains, as negative electrode active materials, graphite particles A and graphite particles B; the graphite particles A have an internal void fraction of 5% or less; the graphite particles B have an internal void fraction of from 8% to 20%; if the negative electrode active material layer is halved in the thickness direction, a region on the half closer to the outer surface contains more graphite particles A than a region on the half closer to the negative electrode collector.

The present invention provides a fine silicon powder and the like including fine silicon particles having a microscopically measured particle diameter of 1 μm or more and an average circularity determined in accordance with Formula (1) of 0.93 or more, in which an average particle diameter based on volume, which is measured by a laser diffraction scattering method, is in a range of 0.8 μm or more and 8.0 μm or less, an average particle diameter based on number, which is measured by the laser diffraction scattering method, is in a range of 0.100 μm or more and 0.150 μm or less, and a specific surface area, which is measured by a BET method, is in a range of 4.0 m.sup.2/g or more and 10 m.sup.2/g or less. Circularity=(4×π×projected area of particle).sup.1/2/peripheral length of particle (1).

A negative electrode comprises a negative electrode collector, a first negative electrode mixture layer, and a second negative electrode mixture layer the ratio of the void fraction (S2) among the graphite particles in the second negative electrode mixture layer to the void fraction (S1) among the graphite particles in the first negative electrode mixture layer, namely S2/S1 is from 1.1 to 2.0: and the ratio of the packing density (D2) of the second negative electrode mixture layer to the packing density (D1) of the first negative electrode mixture layer, namely D2/D1 is from 0.9 to 1.1. A separator has a first surface that is in contact with a positive electrode and a second surface that is in contact with the negative electrode; and the contact angle of the first surface with ethylene carbonate is smaller than the contact angle of the second surface with ethylene carbonate.

A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a nonaqueous electrolyte, wherein the negative electrode includes a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode active material layer supported by the negative electrode current collector, when dividing the negative electrode active material layer into two layers of a first region and a second region having the same thickness, the second region is closer to the negative electrode current collector than the first region, the first region and the second region each contains graphite particles, a ratio P1/P2 of interparticle porosity P1 of the first region to interparticle porosity P2 of the second region is greater than 1, and the nonaqueous electrolyte includes at least one additive selected from the group consisting of a sulfite compound and a sulfate compound.

The present disclosure relates to a lithium-replenishing material, a preparation method thereof, and a lithium-ion battery. The lithium-replenishing material comprises metal lithium particles and conductive material, and the conductive material includes a built-in segment embedded in metal lithium particles and an exposed segment external to metal lithium particles; the electrical conductivity of the conductive material is greater than 100 s/cm. The lithium-replenishing material of the present disclosure can accomplish the electron conduction between the metal lithium particles and the anode active material through the conductive material, which increases the channel of electron conduction, and at the same time facilitates the transport of lithium ions, and improves the efficiency of lithium-replenishing significantly by rapid intercalation process of lithium ions, thereby resulting in inhibiting the formation of isolated lithium effectively and avoiding the formation of dendrites piercing the battery separator and causing potential safety hazards.

The present disclosure describes a lithium solid state battery, including a cathode that includes an active material such as lithium, and an additive having a lower melting point than the active material. The additive can provide a composite cathode where a cathode-electrolyte interphase has high electronic and ionic conductivity, good mechanical deformability, and high oxidation potential.

A solid secondary battery includes: a positive electrode; a negative electrode; and a solid electrolyte disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, wherein the negative electrode includes a negative electrode current collector, and a negative active material layer between the negative electrode current collector and the solid electrolyte, the negative active material layer includes a particulate carbon and a negative active material that forms an alloy or a compound with lithium, a content of the negative active material per unit area of the negative active material layer is about 0.01 milligram per square centimeter or to about 1 milligram per square centimeter, and a film strength of the negative active material layer is about 50 megapascals to about 250 megapascals.

This application relates to secondary lithium-sulfur batteries with electrolyte comprising a metal di-cation.