An apparatus including a first electrode including a substantially homogeneous mixture of graphene oxide and a proton conductor; a second electrode including reduced graphene oxide; and spaced-apart charge collectors for the respective first and second electrodes, wherein the first and second electrodes extend from their respective charge collectors towards one another to form a junction at an interface there between, and wherein the substantially homogeneous mixture of the first electrode is configured to be sufficiently hydrophobic to prevent intermixing of the homogeneous mixture with the reduced graphene oxide of the second electrode in proximity to one or both of the respective charge collectors to prevent short circuiting of the spaced-apart charge collectors.

A positive electrode for an electrochemical cell of a secondary lithium metal battery may include an aluminum metal substrate and a protective layer disposed on a major surface of the aluminum metal substrate. The protective layer may include a conformal aluminum fluoride coating layer. A positive electrode active material layer may overlie the protective layer on the major surface of the aluminum metal substrate. The positive electrode active material layer may include a plurality of interconnected pores, which may be infiltrated with a nonaqueous electrolyte that includes a lithium imide salt.

The viscosity of various ionic liquids (IL), the solvent tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (G4), and their mixtures, with or without lithium salts, were measured experimentally. Various compositions were studied spectroscopically. Detailed analysis reveals that G4 preferentially solvates cations, leading to a reduction in the interaction energy between cations and anions and a subsequent enhancement in anion mobility. Diffusivity and ionic conductivity of certain compositions were improved at G4 mole fractions below levels required for a “solvate ionic liquid”. When an IL was combined with low amounts of a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio of G4 and lithium salt, the viscosity of composition remained constant and ion mobility increased.

A printed energy storage device includes a first electrode including zinc, a second electrode including manganese dioxide, and a separator between the first electrode and the second electrode, the first electrode, second, electrode, and separator printed onto a substrate. The device may include a first current collector and/or a second current collector printed onto the substrate. The energy storage device may include a printed intermediate layer between the separator and the first electrode. The first electrode, and the second electrode may include 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (C.sub.2mimBF.sub.4). The first electrode and the second electrode may include an electrolyte having zinc tetrafluoroborate (ZnBF.sub.4) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (C.sub.2mimBF.sub.4). The first electrode, the second electrode, the first current collector, and/or the second current collector can include carbon nanotubes. The separator may include solid microspheres.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to carbon-containing composites which are suitable for use as electrodes in electrochemical systems. The composites are formed from a scaffold of graphene and carbon nanotubes. Graphene flakes form a plurality of generally planar sheets (e.g., extending in an x-y plane) separated in the direction of a composite axis (e.g., along a z-axis) and approximately parallel to one another. The carbon nanotubes extend between the graphene sheets and at least a portion of the carbon nanotubes are aligned in approximately the same direction, at a defined angle with respect to the composite axis. At least a portion of the scaffold is embedded within a porous carbon matrix (e.g., an activated carbon, a polymer derived graphitic carbon, etc.).

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a plasma polymer thin film excellent in thermal properties and thus suitable for the matrix of a gel polymer electrolyte, a plasma polymer thin film prepared by the method, and a gel polymer electrolyte and a secondary cell using the plasma polymer thin film. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for preparing a polymer thin film by plasma polymerization in which plasma is applied to an interface of a liquid-state monomer to perform polymerization, a polymer thin film prepared by the method, and a gel polymer electrolyte and a secondary cell using the polymer thin film.

Disclosed is an electrochemical cell, which may be used for advanced rechargeable batteries. The electrochemical cell comprises two or more electrodes within an electrolyte solution, where the electrolyte solution containing (i) an aliphatic or cyclic sulfone and (ii) a metal perfluoroalkylsulfonylimide salt.

The present invention is intended to provide a gel-type solid electrolyte having flexibility while maintaining the advantages of an ionic liquid by effectively internalizing the ionic liquid into a porous metal oxide. To this end, the present invention provides the gel-type solid electrolyte which includes an ionic liquid in a porous metal oxide prepared from a silane compound represented by the following Chemical Formula 1:
Si(R.sub.1).sub.x(OR.sub.2).sub.y(CR.sub.3═CR.sub.4R.sub.5).sub.(4-x-y)  [Chemical Formula 1] in the Formula, R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are alkyl groups with carbon numbers in the range of 1 to 3, which are independent from each other; R.sub.3, R.sub.4 and R.sub.5 are each independently hydrogen, a halogen element or an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms; and x is an integer in the range of 0≦x≦3, y is an integer in the range of 1≦y≦4 and x+y is an integer in the range of 2≦x+y≦4.

Methods and compositions are provided for synthesizing ionic liquids from lignin derived compounds comprising: contacting a starting material comprising lignin with a depolymerization agent to depolymerize the lignin and form a mixture of aldehyde containing compounds; contacting the mixture of aldehyde containing compounds with an amine under conditions suitable to convert the mixture of aldehyde containing compounds to a mixture of amine containing compounds; and contacting the mixture of amine containing compounds with an acid under conditions suitable to form an ammonium salt, thereby preparing the ionic liquid.

A process can be used to produce a charge storage unit, especially a secondary battery, the electrodes of which contain an organic redox-active polymer, and which includes a polymeric solid electrolyte. The solid electrolyte is obtained by polymerizing from mixtures of acrylates with methacrylates in the presence of at least one ionic liquid, which imparts advantageous properties to the charge storage unit.