A method and apparatus for forming metal electrode structures, more specifically lithium-containing anodes, high performance electrochemical devices, such as primary and secondary electrochemical devices, including the aforementioned lithium-containing electrodes. In one implementation, the method comprises forming a lithium metal film on a current collector. The current collector comprises copper and/or stainless steel. The method further comprises forming a protective film stack on the lithium metal film, comprising forming a first protective film on the lithium metal film. The first protective film is selected from a bismuth chalcogenide film, a copper chalcogenide film, a tin chalcogenide film, a gallium chalcogenide film, a germanium chalcogenide film, an indium chalcogenide film, a silver chalcogenide film, a dielectric film, a lithium fluoride film, or a combination thereof.

A method and apparatus for fabricating electrodes used in energy storage devices are provided. In some implementations a surface of the electrode is activated for (a) a pre-treatment process to remove loosely held particles from the electrode surface; (b) a pre-treatment process to activate the surface of the electrode material for improved bonding or wetting for subsequently deposited materials; (c) a post-treatment of the pre-lithiation layer to improve subsequent bonding with additionally deposited layer, for example, passivation layers; and/or (d) a post-treatment of the pre-lithiation layer to improve/accelerate absorption of the lithium into the underlying electrode material.

The invention refers to negative electrode plate, preparation method thereof and electrochemical device. The negative electrode plate comprises: a negative current collector, a negative active material layer, and an inorganic dielectric layer which are provided in a stacked manner; the negative active material layer comprises opposite first surface and second surface, wherein the first surface is disposed away from the negative current collector; the inorganic dielectric layer is disposed on the first surface of the negative active material layer and consists of an inorganic dielectric material. The negative electrode plate provided by the application is useful in an electrochemical device, and can result in an electrochemical device having simultaneously excellent safety performance and cycle performance.

A battery electrode composition is provided that comprises a composite material comprising one or more nanocomposites. The nanocomposites may each comprise a planar substrate backbone having a curved geometrical structure, and an active material forming a continuous or substantially continuous film at least partially encasing the substrate backbone. To form an electrode from the electrode composition, a plurality of electrically-interconnected nanocomposites of this type may be aggregated into one or more three-dimensional agglomerations, such as substantially spherical or ellipsoidal granules.

An intermediary solid electrolyte structure having a Li ion conducting solid electrolyte layer covered with a thin as-deposited lithium phosphorus nitride film. A surface protected solid electrolyte having a solid electrolyte layer having a first major surface that is covered by a composite protective film, the composite protective film having a lithium phosphorus material component and a phosphorus nitride material component. A physical vapor deposition target for the deposition of a composite protective film, the target having a compacted composite material target having a mosaic structure. Methods of making thin films.

Implementations described herein generally relate to metal electrodes, more specifically, lithium-containing anodes, high performance electrochemical devices, such as secondary batteries, including the aforementioned lithium-containing electrodes, and methods for fabricating the same. In one implementation, a rechargeable battery is provided. The rechargeable battery comprises a cathode film including a lithium transition metal oxide, a separator film coupled to the cathode film and capable of conducting ions, a solid electrolyte interphase film coupled to the separator, wherein the solid electrolyte interphase film is a lithium fluoride film or a lithium carbonate film, a lithium metal film coupled to the solid electrolyte interphase film and an anode current collector coupled to the lithium metal film.

A method is for producing electrochemical energy storage devices utilizing lithium and for producing materials used in the devices, such that the anode has lithium metal, inorganic solid electrolytes. Anode and cathode components are joined together by pressure and/or temperature utilized in the production. The lithium-metal layer is produced at least partly by a pulsed laser deposition method. The method can utilise various inorganic solid electrolytes produced by different methods and a roll-to-roll method as well as different ways to couple pressure and/or temperature to the component being processed.

A conductive film, a fabrication method of the conductive film, and a lithium-ion battery (LIB) are provided. The fabrication method includes: S10: selecting a support layer, and plating a first metal layer on upper and lower surfaces of the support layer, respectively; S20: compounding a first film on a surface of one of the first metal layers, and compounding a second film on a surface of the other one of the first metal layers; S30: compounding a third film on surfaces of the first film and the second film, and etching a plurality of circular holes penetrating through the third film and the second film; S40: plating a second metal layer on an outer surface of the third film and an inner wall of the circular hole; S50: fabricating a composite film; and S60: plating a third metal layer on upper and lower surfaces of the composite film.

The present invention presents a method for manufacturing tight and porous coatings from metallic, ceramic and organic materials by utilizing composite targets manufactured of two or several materials, which are disintegrated, and producing in this way material flow towards the object to be coated by utilizing short laser pulses directed to the target material. With the method it is possible to produce material structures in a controlled manner, minimizing the needed energy of the laser pulses and heat generation, and with the method it is also possible to improve productivity by correctly choosing the components for the target material.

Microwave radiation may be applied to electrochemical devices for rapid thermal processing (RTP) (including annealing, crystallizing, densifying, forming, etc.) of individual layers of the electrochemical devices, as well as device stacks, including bulk and thin film batteries and thin film electrochromic devices. A method of manufacturing an electrochemical device may comprise: depositing a layer of the electrochemical device over a substrate; and microwave annealing the layer, wherein the microwave annealing includes selecting annealing conditions with preferential microwave energy absorption in the layer. An apparatus for forming an electrochemical device may comprise: a first system to deposit an electrochemical device layer over a substrate; and a second system to microwave anneal the layer, wherein the second system is configured to provide preferential microwave energy absorption in the device layer.