A battery comprising an anode comprising anode material in contact with a metal anode current collector. The battery further comprises a cathode comprising cathode material in contact with a cathode current collector comprising a transparent conducting oxide (TCO). The battery further comprises an electrolyte with a pH in a range of 3 to 7.

The present invention relates to apparatus, compositions and methods of fabricating high performance thin-film batteries on metallic substrates, polymeric substrates, or doped or undoped silicon substrates by fabricating an appropriate barrier layer composed, for example, of barrier sublayers between the substrate and the battery part of the present invention thereby separating these two parts chemically during the entire battery fabrication process as well as during any operation and storage of the electrochemical apparatus during its entire lifetime. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention thin-film batteries fabricated onto a thin, flexible stainless steel foil substrate using an appropriate barrier layer that is composed of barrier sublayers have uncompromised electrochemical performance compared to thin-film batteries fabricated onto ceramic substrates when using a 700° C. post-deposition anneal process for a LiCoO.sub.2 positive cathode.

An active material for an electrochemical device wherein a surface of the active material is modified by a surface modification agent, wherein the surface modification agent is an organometallic compound.

A negative electrode for a rechargeable lithium battery that includes a negative active material layer including a carbon-based material having a peak of about 20 degrees to 30 degrees at a (002) plane in an X-ray diffraction pattern using a CuKα ray, and an SEI (solid electrolyte interface) passivation film including at least one material selected from an organic material and an inorganic material and having an average thickness of about 10 nm to about 50 nm on the surface of the active material layer of the electrode.

Polymer-fused batteries are provided. The battery includes a casing, an anode coupled to the casing, an electrical source disposed between the casing and the anode, and a fuse. The polymer fuse comprises an electrically-conductive material formulated to decompose upon contact with a bodily fluid.

An energy storage device comprises a first porous semiconducting structure (510) comprising a first plurality of channels (511) that contain a first electrolyte (514) and a second porous semiconducting structure (520) comprising a second plurality of channels (521) that contain a second electrolyte (524). In one embodiment, the energy storage device further comprises a film (535) on at least one of the first and second porous semiconducting structures, the film comprising a material capable of exhibiting reversible electron transfer reactions. In another embodiment, at least one of the first and second electrolytes contains a plurality of metal ions. In another embodiment, the first and second electrolytes, taken together, comprise a redox system.

A polymer gel electrolyte containing at least a lithium salt and an aprotic solvent, in which an amorphous polymer layer is formed on the surface of an electrode active material.

An energy storage device, such as a silver oxide battery, can include a silver-containing cathode and an electrolyte having an ionic liquid. An anion of the ionic liquid is selected from the group consisting of: methanesulfonate, methylsulfate, acetate, and fluoroacetate. A cation of the ionic liquid can be selected from the group consisting of: imidazolium, pyridinium, ammonium, piperidinium, pyrrolidinium, sulfonium, and phosphonium. The energy storage device may include a printed or non-printed separator. The printed separator can include a gel including dissolved cellulose powder and the electrolyte. The non-printed separator can include a gel including at least partially dissolved regenerate cellulose and the electrolyte. An energy storage device fabrication process can include applying a plasma treatment to a surface of each of a cathode, anode, separator, and current collectors. The plasma treatment process can improve wettability, adhesion, electron and/or ionic transport across the treated surface.

A method for using an integrated battery and device structure includes using two or more stacked electrochemical cells integrated with each other formed overlying a surface of a substrate. The two or more stacked electrochemical cells include related two or more different electrochemistries with one or more devices formed using one or more sequential deposition processes. The one or more devices are integrated with the two or more stacked electrochemical cells to form the integrated battery and device structure as a unified structure overlying the surface of the substrate. The one or more stacked electrochemical cells and the one or more devices are integrated as the unified structure using the one or more sequential deposition processes. The integrated battery and device structure is configured such that the two or more stacked electrochemical cells and one or more devices are in electrical, chemical, and thermal conduction with each other.

Electrochemical methods for probing solid polymer electrolyte surface coatings on electrically conducting, active, three-dimensional electrode materials for use in lithium-ion batteries, to quantitatively determine the conformity, uniformity, and the presence of pinholes, and/or other defects in coatings, without requiring the detachment of the coating from the electrode or otherwise inducing damage to the coating, are described. Coated electrodes are submersed in an electrolyte solution containing a redox-active probe species which does not induce electrochemical damage to either the working electrode or the solid polymer electrolyte surface coating. For coated Cu.sub.2Sb working electrodes, molecules including a water-soluble redox active viologen moiety have been found to be effective. The current as a function of the applied potential for an uncoated working electrode is used as a baseline for testing solid polymer surface coatings on working electrodes, and the difference in the observed current between the electrodes for a given potential is a quantitative indicator of the ability of the probe species to access the surface of the working electrode through the solid polymer electrolyte coating.