The present invention concerns the use, as an active electrode material, of compounds comprising at least one entity of formula (I): in which the phenyl group is substituted with one to four identical or different substituent(s) R, chosen from a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom chosen from fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine, a C(S)SC+ group, an OC+ group, an SC+ group, C+ being an alkali cation chosen from Li+, Na+ and K+, a (C1-C12) alkyl radical, a (C2-C12) alkenyl radical, a (C6-C14) aryl or heteroaryl radical; or two vicinal substituents R that can, if appropriate, be linked to each other to together form a 3- to 7-membered ring optionally including another heteroatom chosen from N, O or S; in the base or salt form; and the tautomeric forms of same. It also concerns an electrode material, an electrode and a lithium, sodium or potassium secondary battery, obtained from these compounds.

Articles and methods involving electrochemical cells and/or electrochemical cell preproducts comprising passivating agents are generally provided. In certain embodiments, an electrochemical cell includes first and second passivating agents. In some embodiments, an electrochemical cell may include a first electrode comprising a first surface, a second electrode (e.g., a counter electrode with respect to the first electrode) comprising a second surface, a first passivating agent configured and arranged to passivate the first surface, and a second passivating agent configured and arranged to passivate the second surface.

A positive electrode active material for an electrochemical device has a fiber shape or a grain-aggregate shape. The positive electrode active material includes an inner core part having a fiber shape or a grain-aggregate shape, and a superficial part covering at least part of the inner core part. The inner core part contains a first conductive polymer, and the superficial part contains a second conductive polymer that is different from the first conductive polymer.

Provided is a method of producing multi-functional particulates of graphene-protected conducting polymer gel network-encapsulated anode particles for a lithium battery, said method comprising: a) Dispersing a plurality of primary particles of an anode active material, having a diameter or thickness from 0.5 nm to 20 m, and multiple graphene sheets into a precursor to a conducting polymer gel network to form a suspension; and b) Forming said suspension into micro-droplets and, concurrently or sequentially, polymerizing and/or crosslinking said precursor to form said multi-functional particulates. The conducting polymer gel network comprises a polyaniline hydrogel, polypyrrole hydrogel, or polythiophene hydrogel in a dehydrated state.

The present invention relates to a polymer possessing a linear backbone selected from the homopolymers belonging to the family of polyfluorenes, polycarbazoles, polyanilines, polyphenylenes, polyisothionaphthenes, polyacetylenes, polyphenylene vinylenes, and copolymers thereof, said backbone bearing at least one side group possessing at least one nitroxide function. It also relates to an electrode material, an electrode and a lithium secondary battery obtained from such a polymer.

Electropolymerized polymer or copolymer films on a conducting substrate (e.g., graphene) and methods of making such films. The films may be part of multilayer structures. The films can be formed by anodic or cathodic electropolymerization of monomers. The films and structures (e.g., multilayer structures) can be used in devices such as, for example, electrochromic devices, electrical-energy storage devices, photo-voltaic devices, field-effect transistor devices, electrical devices, electronic devices, energy-generation devices, and microfluidic devices.

An electrode and the manufacturing method thereof, the electrode including a body at least partially covered with a composite coating including a polypyrrole polymer or derivatives thereof, the polymer including pyrrole monomeric units having a side chain including at least one carboxylate group. Particles of a metal oxide based on at least one metal, the amount of the at least one metal of the metal oxide being smaller than or equal to 7 mmol.Math.cm.sup.3 per carboxylate group of the pyrrole monomeric units. The electrode is improved in particular in terms of resources, environmental impact and cost, while preserving a satisfactory electrocatalytic activity.

Disclosed are composite substrates and rechargeable lithium batteries. The composite substrate includes a first metal layer, a second metal layer, and a fiber mat layer between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. The fiber mat layer includes a plurality of fibers and a plurality of voids between the plurality of fibers. The composite substrate has a first surface on which the first metal layer is formed, and a second surface on which the second metal layer is formed. An average roughness (Sa) of the first surface is in a range of about 1 m to about 3 m.

Described herein are composite battery electrode structures and methods of forming such structures. Composite battery electrode structures comprise active electrode material structures and polymer structures such that at least a portion of the polymer structures at least partially protrudes into some of the high capacity structures. Some of these polymer structures may be fully enclosed by the active electrode material structures. Other polymer structures may only partially extend inside the active electrode material structures. Furthermore, additional polymer structures may be bound to the external surface of the active electrode material structures. Composite battery electrode structures may be formed using low-temperature deposition techniques, such as solvent-thermal synthesis, direct chemical reduction, and electrochemical deposition. More specifically, composite battery electrode structures may be formed from a solution comprising active electrode material precursors and polymer precursors, e.g., dissolved polymers, monomers, and/or conductive polymers electrically coupled to the working electrodes.

In a method for manufacturing an electrode for a lithium secondary battery, an electrode mixture is prepared by mixing an electrode active material and a prepolymer binder including a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based polymer. The electrode mixture is dry-coated onto an electrode current collector to form a preliminary electrode active material layer. The preliminary electrode active material layer is roll-pressed. An electric field is applied to the preliminary electrode active material layer to form an electrode active material layer. The electrode for a lithium secondary battery exhibits improved elasticity and ionic conductivity, thereby improving the cycle life characteristics and electrical properties of the secondary battery.