A thermal battery includes a negative electrode and a positive electrode separated from the negative electrode by an electrolyte where at least the positive electrode is in a fluid state at the operating temperature of the battery. A solid product isolation system decreases the concentration of solid products within the fluid positive electrode at least within the region near the electrolyte.

A battery cell housing and control system enables the use of liquid battery power systems in various applications, including downhole environments. The cell housing includes a plurality of conductive terminals spaced there-around to provide conductivity between the electrochemical solution and the load. Sensors provide orientation data to the control system to thereby determine which terminals should be activated to provide power to a load.

A metal foil including on at least one of its sides a layer of a material including: a metal or a metal alloy, carbon, hydrogen, and optionally oxygen, the atomic percentage of the metal or of the metals of the alloy in the material ranging from 10 to 60%, the atomic percentage of carbon in the material ranging from 35 to 70%, the atomic percentage of hydrogen in the material ranging from 2 to 20%, and the atomic percentage of oxygen if present in the material being less than or equal to 10%. The metal foil can be used in the manufacture of a cathode of a lithium-ion electrochemical cell. The deposition of this layer reduces the internal resistance of the cell.

The present disclosure relates to a carbonaceous structure and a method for preparing the same, an electrode material and a catalyst including the carbonaceous structure, and an energy storage device including the electrode material.

A sodium-sulfur battery includes a partition wall formed of a solid electrolyte, a cathode chamber formed on one of opposite sides of the partition wall, an anode chamber formed on another one of the opposite sides of the partition wall, sulfur accommodated in the cathode chamber, sodium some of which is accommodated in the anode chamber, a sodium container accommodating most of remaining sodium, and a communication passage communicating the anode chamber with the sodium container, and including a finely-perforated portion extending into the sodium container and opening inside the sodium container. Moreover, the communication passage further includes a shutoff portion for closing the communication passage itself.

An electrochemical cell includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, an electrolyte disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and an ion-conducting composite membrane disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The composite membrane includes a porous substrate having pores and a porosity from about 5 vol % to about 80 vol %, and a selective ion-conductive filler disposed at least partially within the pores. The filler includes an intercalation material. Methods of making the ion-conducting composite membrane and using an electrochemical cell having the ion-conducting composite membrane are also provided.

An electrode unit for an electrochemical device, comprising (i) a solid electrolyte which divides a space for molten cathode material, selected from the group consisting of elemental sulfur and polysulfide of the alkali metal anode material, and a space for molten alkali metal anode material, and (ii) a porous solid state electrode directly adjacent to the solid electrolyte within the space for the cathode material, with a non-electron-conducting intermediate layer S present between the solid state electrode and the solid electrolyte, wherein this intermediate layer S has a thickness in the range from 0.5 to 5 mm and, before the first charge of the electrochemical device, has been impregnated fully with a polysulfide composition, comprising (A) pure polysulfides Met.sub.2S.sub.x with Met=alkali metal of the alkali metal anode material selected from lithium, sodium, potassium, and x is dependent on the alkali metal and is 2, 3, 4 or 5 for Na and is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 for Li and is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 for K, or (B) mixtures of the polysulfides of one and the same alkali metal from (A) with one another.

A negative electrode material applied to a lithium battery or a sodium battery is provided. The negative electrode material is composed of a first chemical element, a second chemical element and a third chemical element with an atomic ratio of x, 1x, and 2, wherein 0<x<1, the first chemical element is selected from the group consisting of molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr), tungsten (W), manganese (Mn), technetium (Tc) and rhenium (Re), the second chemical element is selected from the group consisting of Mo, Cr and W, the third chemical element is selected from the group consisting of sulfur (S), selenium (Se) and tellurium (Te), and the first chemical element is different from the second chemical element.

A thermal runaway mitigation system cools fluid electrode material in a thermal battery to prevent a thermal runaway in the thermal battery. In response to a thermal runaway trigger, the thermal runway prevention system cools at least one of the fluid positive electrode material and the fluid negative electrode material. In some situations, the fluid material electrode material is sufficiently cooled to place the electrode material in a solid state.

The present invention relates to a sodium secondary battery comprising: an anode container for accommodating sodium; a cathode container for accommodating a cathode active material and a cathode secondary electrolyte; a solid electrolyte positioned between the anode container and the cathode container and selectively moving sodium ions; and a polymer sealing layer formed along the edge of the solid electrolyte and positioned between the solid electrolyte and the anode container and between the solid electrolyte and the cathode container. Since the sodium secondary battery of the present invention uses the polymer sealing layer, an expensive bonding process and an expensive bonding facility are unnecessary, the number of parts of a single cell can be reduced, and a battery manufacturing process can be simplified.