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.

A method of forming a sulfur-based cathode material includes: 1) providing a sulfur-based nanostructure; 2) coating the nanostructure with an encapsulating material to form a shell surrounding the nanostructure; and 3) removing a portion of the nanostructure through the shell to form a void within the shell, with a remaining portion of the nanostructure disposed within the shell.

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.

In conventional arts, it is impossible to form a good solid-solid interface in cathode mixture layers of all-solid-state batteries, which significantly deteriorates resistance of the all-solid-state battery after the charge/discharge cycle, which is problematic. A cathode slurry is produced by a method including: a first step of dispersing a conductive additive constituted of carbon in a solvent to obtain a first slurry; a second step of dispersing a sulfide solid electrolyte in the first slurry to obtain a second slurry; and a third step of dispersing a cathode active material in the second slurry to obtain a third slurry, to be used to form a cathode mixture layer. This may suppress agglomeration of the cathode active material as using the conductive additive as a core, and may lower the proportion of agglomerate present in the cathode mixture layer. As a result, a good solid-solid interface may be formed in the cathode mixture layer of the all-solid-state battery, and the resistance increase of the all-solid-state battery after the charge/discharge cycle may be suppressed.

A lithium-ion secondary battery including positive and negative electrodes, a separator element, an electrical conductor element and a binder, wherein the positive electrode includes a lithium-containing metal phosphate compound coated with a carbon material having at least one phase selected from a graphene phase and an amorphous phase, and further includes carbon black and a fibrous carbon material and wherein the negative-electrode material includes a graphite carbon material having at least one carbon phase selected from a graphene phase and an amorphous phase, and further includes carbon black and a fibrous carbon material, and wherein the binder includes a water-soluble synthetic resin or a water-dispersible synthetic resin. The most preferred positive electrode includes LiFePO.sub.4, The most preferred negative electrode includes artificial graphite or graphitazable powder. The most preferred binder is carboxyl methyl cellulose further including a surface active agent. A method of making the lithium-ion secondary battery.

Provided is a multivalent metal-ion battery comprising an anode, a cathode, a porous separator electronically separating the anode and the cathode, and an electrolyte in ionic contact with the anode and the cathode to support reversible deposition and dissolution of a multivalent metal, selected from Ni, Zn, Be, Mg, Ca, Ba, La, Ti, Ta, Zr, Nb, Mn, V, Co, Fe, Cd, Cr, Ga, In, or a combination thereof, at the anode, wherein the anode contains the multivalent metal or its alloy as an anode active material and the cathode comprises a cathode layer of an exfoliated graphite or carbon material recompressed to form an active layer that is oriented in such a manner that the active layer has a graphite edge plane in direct contact with the electrolyte and facing or contacting the separator.

A method for manufacturing a lithium secondary battery, including the steps: (S1) forming a preliminary negative electrode by coating a negative electrode slurry including a negative electrode active material, conductive material, binder and a solvent onto at least one surface of a current collector, followed by drying and pressing the negative electrode slurry coated current collector, to form a negative electrode active material layer surface on the current collector; (S2) coating lithium metal foil onto the negative electrode active material layer surface of the preliminary negative electrode in the shape of a pattern in which pattern units are arranged; (S3) cutting the preliminary negative electrode on which the lithium metal foil is pattern-coated to obtain negative electrode units; (S4) impregnating the negative electrode units with an electrolyte to obtain a pre-lithiated negative electrode; and (S5) assembling the negative electrode obtained from step (S4) with a positive electrode and a separator.

The present invention relates to a composition for battery electrodes in which at least one solvent is a composition comprising between 80% and 95% by mass of N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP).

A compound comprising phosphorus atoms and sulfur atoms as constituent elements and having a peak in Raman spectroscopy, the peak being attributable to a disulfide bond bonding between two phosphorus atoms.