Solid-state lithium-ion cells described herein can operate at pressures. In some embodiments, the solid-state lithium-ion cells undergo little or no volume change during cycling. A conditioning process that that significantly improves the performance of a cell at reduced pressures can involve cycling the cell at high pressure.

A separator for a lithium secondary battery comprising a porous polymer substrate and a porous coating layer on at least one surface of the porous polymer substrate. The separator has an ionic conductivity of 4.75×10.sup.−5 S/cm or more, and the porous coating layer comprises an interstitial volume and a macro pore having a larger diameter than the interstitial volume. A method for manufacturing the separator is also disclosed. Accordingly, the separator has significantly improved ionic conductivity over commercial separators.

A device for charging and discharging a battery cell capable of suppressing a swelling phenomenon of a terrace portion of a battery cell during a formation process of the battery cell includes first and second plates configured to receive a battery cell therebetween and to press two surfaces of the battery cell; first and second grippers connected to the first and second plates, respectively, the first and second grippers protrude to face each other and configured to contact a lead region of the battery cell; and first and second pressing pads positioned inward of the first and second grippers, the first and second pressing pads being configured to contact a terrace region of the battery cell. A method of charging and discharging a battery cell using the same is also provided.

The non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell according to the present invention comprises: an electrode body constituted by a positive electrode including a positive electrode active material comprising a lithium-containing transition metal oxide, a negative electrode including a negative electrode current collector onto which metallic lithium is deposited during charging, and a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and a non-aqueous electrolyte. The molar ratio of the total lithium content of the positive electrode and the negative electrode to the transition metal content of the positive electrode is 1.1 or less. During discharging, the positive electrode capacitance α(mAh) of the positive electrode and the volume X (mm.sup.3) of a hollow constituted by a space formed in the center of the electrode body 14 satisfy the relationship 0.5≤X/α≤4.0.

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a secondary battery, the method including: manufacturing a pre-lithiation cell including a negative electrode and a lithium metal counter electrode and pre-lithiating the negative electrode by charging the pre-lithiation cell; separating the pre-lithiated negative electrode from the pre-lithiation cell and manufacturing an electrode assembly including the pre-lithiated negative electrode and a positive electrode; impregnating the electrode assembly with an electrolyte; activating the impregnated electrode assembly by performing a first charging the impregnated electrode assembly; removing gas generated in the activation; discharging the activated electrode assembly immediately after removing the gas; and performing a second charging on the discharged electrode assembly.

An electrochemical cell for a lithium accumulator comprising: a negative electrode comprising metallic lithium as active material; a positive electrode associated with an aluminium current collector; and an electrolyte placed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, wherein the negative electrode is provided with a layer comprising a compound containing aluminium at its face in contact with the electrolyte, and in that the electrolyte comprises at least one lithium salt chosen from among lithium imide, lithium triflate, lithium perchlorate salts and mixtures thereof.

A disclosure sacrificial positive electrode material with reduced gas generation and a method of preparing the same are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method includes calcining a mixture of lithium oxide (Li.sub.2O) and cobalt oxide (CoO) in an atmosphere containing an inert gas and oxygen gas and having a relative humidity of 20% or less, wherein the oxygen gas is at a partial pressure of 1% or less, to prepare a lithium cobalt metal oxide represented by Chemical Formula (1):

Li.sub.xCo.sub.(1-y)M.sub.yO.sub.4-zA.sub.z  [Chemical Formula 1]

M is at least one selected from the group consisting of Ti, Al, Zn, Zr, Mn and Ni, A is a halogen, x, y and z are 5≤x≤7, 0≤y≤0.4, and 0≤z≤0.001. A battery having the sacrificial positive electrode material can have reduced gas generation in the electrode assembly at the time of charging the battery, and thus the stability and life of the battery are improved.

Provided is a lithium secondary battery comprising a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte or separator-electrolyte assembly disposed between the cathode and the anode, wherein the anode comprises: (a) An anode current collector, initially having no lithium or lithium alloy as an anode active material when the battery is made and prior to a charge or discharge operation; and (b) a thin layer of a high-elasticity polymer in ionic contact with the electrolyte and having a recoverable tensile strain from 2% to 700%, a lithium ion conductivity no less than 10.sup.−8 S/cm, and a thickness from 0.5 nm to 100 μm. Preferably, the high-elasticity polymer contains a cross-linked network of polymer chains having an ether linkage, nitrile-derived linkage, benzo peroxide-derived linkage, ethylene oxide linkage, propylene oxide linkage, vinyl alcohol linkage, cyano-resin linkage, triacrylate monomer-derived linkage, tetraacrylate monomer-derived linkage, or a combination thereof in the cross-linked network of polymer chains.

A method of generating a charge/discharge protocol of an additional charging/discharging operation included in an activation method with respect to assembled secondary batteries is provided. The method includes operation (a) of measuring a secondary battery thickness increase rate over time while repeating charging/discharging between a first voltage and a second voltage higher than the first voltage with respect to a first secondary battery; operation (b) of performing, at least once, an operation of performing operation (a) with respect to a second secondary battery after fixing the second voltage and changing the first voltage; operation (c) of determining one of first voltages except for a first voltage at a lowest rate from among measured secondary battery thickness increase rates as a lower limit voltage; and operation (d) of setting a protocol so that charging/discharging is repeated between the lower limit voltage and the second voltage.

An anode-free solid-state battery includes a cathode layer having transient anode elements and a bare current collector devoid of non-transitory anode material and configured to accept thereon the transient anode elements. The battery also includes a solid-state electrolyte layer defining voids and arranged between the current collector and the cathode layer. The battery additionally includes a gel situated within the solid-state electrolyte and cathode layers, to permeate the electrolyte voids and form a gelled solid-state electrolyte layer, coat the cathode layer, and facilitate ionic conduction of the anode elements between the cathode layer, the solid-state electrolyte layer, and the current collector. Charging the battery diffuses the anode elements from the cathode layer, via the gelled solid-state electrolyte layer, onto the current collector. Discharging the battery returns the anode elements, via the gelled solid-state electrolyte layer, to the cathode layer. A particular method is used to fabricate the anode-free solid-state battery.