An electrode structure includes a mesh substrate and a nanomaterial. The nanomaterial contains oxide of group IVA element and grows on the mesh substrate. A method of manufacturing the electrode structure and a rechargeable battery including the electrode structure are also provided.

Provided is a process for preparing an electrode comprising an iron active material. The process comprises first fabricating an electrode comprising an iron active material, and then treating the electrode with a gaseous oxidant to thereby create an oxidized surface. The resulting iron electrode is preconditioned prior to any charge-discharge cycle to have the assessable surface of the iron active material in the same oxidation state as in discharged iron negative electrodes active material.

An anode of the lithium ion battery is provided. The anode of the lithium ion battery comprises a nanoporous copper substrate and a copper oxide nanosheet array. The copper oxide nanosheet array is disposed on one surface of the nanoporous copper substrate, and the nanoporous copper substrate is chemically bonded to the copper oxide nanosheet array.

Electrodes, production methods and mono-cell batteries are provided, which comprise active material particles embedded in electrically conductive metallic porous structure, dry-etched anode structures and battery structures with thick anodes and cathodes that have spatially uniform resistance. The metallic porous structure provides electric conductivity, a large volume that supports good ionic conductivity, that in turn reduces directional elongation of the particles during operation, and may enable reduction or removal of binders, conductive additives and/or current collectors to yield electrodes with higher structural stability, lower resistance, possibly higher energy density and longer cycling lifetime. Dry etching treatments may be used to reduce oxidized surfaces of the active material particles, thereby simplifying production methods and enhancing porosity and ionic conductivity of the electrodes. Electrodes may be made thick and used to form mono-cell batteries which are simple to produce and yield high performance.

A more efficient and lower cost method for producing electrochemically stable, and thus safe from thermal runaway, high electrochemical capacity coated lithium nickelate is disclosed. The coated nickelate hydroxide particles are formed from a mixed metal sulfate solution (MMS) serving as the starting material that is obtained from recycled lithium ion and/or nickel metal hydride batteries. The coating of the particles includes a relatively small amount of cobalt/manganese oxide forming the surface of the nickelate particles, while the core of the particles includes a relatively large amount of nickel in relation to the weight of the coating. Battery cathode electrodes may be manufactured by using the obtained coated lithium nickelate particles as the cathode active material (CAM) in forming the battery cathodes.

Provided herein is a composite anode active material including: a porous carbon structure; a first coating layer on the porous carbon structure and including a non-carbonaceous material capable of intercalating and deintercalating lithium; and a second coating layer on the first coating layer and including a carbonaceous material.

An anode for batteries having a columnar nanostructured porous germanium for its active material. This nanostructured porous germanium can be produced with the novel etching method disclosed herein. Such anode can be easily mass-produced with the presented method that requires pre-existing, affordable and easy to integrate equipment. In some embodiments, the produced columnar porous germanium can be directly used as a monolithic anode after its etching nanostructuration for on-chip anodes for example, where the anisotropic nanostructured germanium acts as the active material and where the remaining bulk germanium layer act as the current collector. This can be easily implemented in lithium batteries. The cycle life of such anodes could be extended by a factor of 26 and 1.8 for high rate and high energy applications, respectively.

A negative electrode of a thin film battery and method for forming the same, wherein the negative electrode comprises a porous structural layer, a capacitor layer, and a lithium ion source layer. The porous structural layer is formed on a metal substrate, and a thickness of the porous structural layer is between 200 nm and 700 nm. The capacitor layer is formed on the porous structural layer, and a thickness is between 100 nm and 300 nm. The lithium ion source layer is formed on the capacitor layer. Since the porous structural layer is made of stable material, a problem of charging-discharging instability that is occurred due to damage of battery structure caused by the volume expansion of the capacitor layer during the charging-discharging process can be improved. In addition, the negative electrode can be combined with a positive electrode for forming a thin film battery.

Provided are electrode layers for use in rechargeable batteries, such as lithium ion batteries, and related fabrication techniques. These electrode layers have interconnected hollow nanostructures that contain high capacity electrochemically active materials, such as silicon, tin, and germanium. In certain embodiments, a fabrication technique involves forming a nanoscale coating around multiple template structures and at least partially removing and/or shrinking these structures to form hollow cavities. These cavities provide space for the active materials of the nanostructures to swell into during battery cycling. This design helps to reduce the risk of pulverization and to maintain electrical contacts among the nanostructures. It also provides a very high surface area available ionic communication with the electrolyte. The nanostructures have nanoscale shells but may be substantially larger in other dimensions. Nanostructures can be interconnected during forming the nanoscale coating, when the coating formed around two nearby template structures overlap.

A method for fabricating a stacked battery structure. The method includes preparing a plurality of battery layers separately, wherein each battery layer includes a substrate, a film battery element fabricated on the substrate and an insulator formed over the film battery element. The insulator has a flat top surface and the film battery element includes a current collector. The method also includes stacking the plurality of battery layers, wherein the insulator of a first battery layer of the plurality of battery layers bonds to the substrate of a second battery layer of the plurality of battery layers by the flat top surface. The method further includes forming a conductive path within the plurality of battery layers, wherein the conductive path connects with at least one of the current collectors of the plurality of battery layers.