The present invention relates to a range of halide organic salts and their use in a cathode of an electrical cell and in batteries. Elemental halides have attracted intense interest as promising electrodes for energy storage. However, they suffer from a number of inherent physicochemical drawbacks, including the volatility of iodine, the corrosiveness of liquid bromine. The salts of the present invention may serve as a cathode matched with a zinc anode avoiding these issues.

A rechargeable lithium battery includes an electrode laminate including a positive electrode including a positive current collector and a positive active material layer disposed on the positive current collector; a negative electrode including a negative current collector, a negative active material layer disposed on the negative current collector, and a negative electrode functional layer disposed on the negative active material layer; and a separator, wherein the electrode laminate has a ratio (L/W) of a height (L), which is a length in a protruding direction of an electrode terminal, relative to a width (W), which is perpendicular to the protruding direction of the electrode terminal and parallel to the laminate surface, is about 1.1 to about 2.3, the positive active material layer includes a first positive active material including at least one of a composite oxide of a metal selected from cobalt, manganese, nickel, and a combination thereof and lithium and a second positive active material including a compound represented by Chemical Formula 1, the negative electrode functional layer includes flake-shaped polyethylene particles, and an operation voltage is greater than or equal to about 4.3 V.
Li.sub.aFe.sub.1-x1M.sub.x1PO.sub.4  [Chemical Formula 1] In Chemical Formula 1, 0.90≤a≤1.8, 0≤x1≤0.7, and M is Mn, Co, Ni, or a combination thereof.

A rechargeable lithium battery includes a positive electrode including a positive current collector and a positive active material layer disposed on the positive current collector; and a negative electrode including a negative current collector, a negative active material layer disposed on the negative current collector, and a negative electrode functional layer disposed on the negative active material layer, wherein the positive active material layer includes a first positive active material including at least one of a composite oxide of metal selected from cobalt, manganese, nickel, and a combination thereof and lithium and a second positive active material including at least one of compounds represented by Chemical Formula 1 to Chemical Formula 4, and the negative electrode functional layer includes flake-shaped polyethylene particles and
Li.sub.x2Mn.sub.1-y2M′.sub.y2A.sub.2  [Chemical Formula 1]
Li.sub.x2Mn.sub.1-y2M′.sub.yO.sub.2-z2X.sub.z2  [Chemical Formula 2]
Li.sub.x2Mn.sub.2O.sub.4-z2X.sub.z2  [Chemical Formula 3]
Li.sub.x2Mn.sub.2-y2M′.sub.y2M″.sub.z2A.sub.4  [Chemical Formula 4] wherein, 0.9≤x2≤1.1, 0≤y2≤0.5, 0≤z2≤0.5, M′ and M″ are the same or different and are selected from Mg, Al, Co, K, Na, Ca, Si, Ti, Sn, V, Ge, Ga, B, As, Zr, Mn, Cr, Fe, Sr, V, and a rare earth element, and wherein A is selected from O, F, S, and P and X is selected from F, S, and P.

The present invention is a technology for replacing a lithium ion secondary battery using an inorganic material, which is currently commercially available, and is a technology for constructing a secondary battery using an organic material as an electrode material. The organic electrode has a disadvantage in that the actual energy density is low because it has to include a large amount of carbon-based conductor in the electrode due to poor electrical conductivity. In order to overcome this drawback, in the present invention, the loading amount of the organic active material in the electrode is increased by filling the pores of the carbon structure body, such as porous activated carbon, with an organic electrode material and coating the outside of the carbon structure body with an organic electrode material. In addition, by using a carbon material current collector instead of the conventional metal current collector such as Al or Cu, a flexible and binder-free organic electrode was fabricated to increase the loading amount, reduce the weight of the battery, and improve the electrochemical properties.

The present invention is a technology for replacing a lithium ion secondary battery using an inorganic material, which is currently commercially available, and is a technology for constructing a secondary battery using an organic material as an electrode material. The organic electrode has a disadvantage in that the actual energy density is low because it has to include a large amount of carbon-based conductor in the electrode due to poor electrical conductivity. In order to overcome this drawback, in the present invention, the loading amount of the organic active material in the electrode is increased by filling the pores of the carbon structure body, such as porous activated carbon, with an organic electrode material and coating the outside of the carbon structure body with an organic electrode material. In addition, by using a carbon material current collector instead of the conventional metal current collector such as Al or Cu, a flexible and binder-free organic electrode was fabricated to increase the loading amount, reduce the weight of the battery, and improve the electrochemical properties.

A separator for a battery formed from a polymer gel electrolyte that is disposed within the pores of a polymer mesh. The polymer gel electrolyte is formed from a crosslinked ion-conducting polymer and an ionic liquid. The separator is formed from a gel loaded with an electrolyte, which prevents issue with electrolyte leakage. The polymer mesh provides stability to the polymer gel electrolyte, allowing for use of thin films of the polymer gel electrolyte and use of soft polymer gel electrolytes.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) usually crystallize as insoluble powders and their processing for suitable devices has been thought to be limited. Here, it is demonstrated that COFs can be mechanically pressed into shaped objects having anisotropic ordering with preferred orientation between the hk0 and 00/ crystallographic planes. Pellets prepared from bulk COF powders impregnated with LiClO.sub.4 displayed room temperature conductivity up to 0.26 mS cm.sup.−1 and stability up to 10.0 V (vs. Li.sup.+/Li.sup.0). This outcome portends use of COFs as solid-state electrolytes in batteries.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) usually crystallize as insoluble powders and their processing for suitable devices has been thought to be limited. Here, it is demonstrated that COFs can be mechanically pressed into shaped objects having anisotropic ordering with preferred orientation between the hk0 and 00/ crystallographic planes. Pellets prepared from bulk COF powders impregnated with LiClO.sub.4 displayed room temperature conductivity up to 0.26 mS cm.sup.−1 and stability up to 10.0 V (vs. Li.sup.+/Li.sup.0). This outcome portends use of COFs as solid-state electrolytes in batteries.

A nanocomposite includes one or more graphene-based materials (GMs), a nitrogen-containing polymer (an N-polymer), and elemental sulfur (S). The nanocomposite is suitable for use as a stable, high capacity electrode for rechargeable batteries such as lithium-sulfur (Li—S) batteries. Example methods of fabricating a nanocomposite include the addition of an N-polymer to a dispersion (e.g., an aqueous dispersion) or slurry of GMs mixed with a sulfur sol. The N-polymer can interact strongly with the GMs to form a cross-linked network. In one embodiment, hydrothermal treatment of the aqueous dispersion or slurry is used to melt the sulfur such that it becomes distributed within the network formed by the GMs and the N-polymer. The resulting nanocomposite material can then be processed through the addition of one or more other binders and/or solvents, and formed into a final electrode.

An electrode including an electrode active material including lithium (Li) and a polymer layer coating at least a portion of the electrode active material is provided. The polymer layer includes a polymerization product of a monomer having Formula I: ##STR00001##
where R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are independently an aryl or a branched or unbranched C.sub.1-C.sub.10 alkyl and X.sub.1 and X.sub.2 are independently chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), or iodine (I).