Disclosed herein are exemplary embodiments of improved separators for lead acid batteries, improved lead acid batteries incorporating the improved separators, and systems incorporating the same. A lead acid battery separator is provided with a porous membrane with a plurality of ribs extending from a surface thereon. The ribs are provided with a plurality of discontinuous peaks arranged such as to provide resilient support for the porous membrane in order to resist forces exerted by swelling NAM and thus mitigate the effects of acid starvation associated with NAM swelling. The separator is also provided to be capable utilizing any motion experienced by the battery housing such a separator in order to mitigate the effects of acid stratification by facilitating acid mixing. A lead acid battery is further provided that incorporates the provided separator. Such a lead acid battery may be a flooded lead acid battery, an enhanced flooded lead acid battery, and may be provided as operating in a partial state of charge. Systems incorporating such a lead acid battery are also provided, such as a vehicle or any other energy storage system, such as solar or wind energy collection. Other exemplary embodiments are provided such as to have any one or more of the following: a lowered electrical resistance; increased puncture resistance; increased oxidation resistance; increased ability to mitigate the effects of dendrite growth, and/or other improvements.

A separator for a lead acid battery is a porous membrane having a positive electrode face and a negative electrode face. A plurality of longitudinally extending ribs, a plurality of protrusions or a nonwoven material may be disposed upon the positive electrode face. A plurality of transversely extending ribs are disposed upon the negative electrode face. The transverse ribs disposed upon the negative electrode face are preferably juxtaposed to a negative electrode of the lead acid battery, when the separator is placed within that battery.

A secondary battery in which convection in an electrolyte solution occurs easily is provided. A secondary battery whose electrolyte solution can be replaced is provided. A nonaqueous secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, and an electrolyte solution, and the separator includes grooves capable of making convection in the electrolyte solution occur easily. The nonaqueous secondary battery has at least one expected installation direction, and the grooves in the separator are preferably formed so as to be perpendicular to an expected installation surface. The exterior body includes a first opening for injection of an inert gas into the exterior body and a second opening for expelling or injection of an electrolyte solution from or into the exterior body. An electrolyte solution replacement apparatus has a function of injecting the inert gas through the first opening and expelling or injecting the electrolyte solution through the second opening.

An energy storage device includes an electrode body in which an electrode is wound, a case that stores the electrode body, and spacers (side spacers) interposed between the case and the electrode body. The spacers each have an opening that exposes a portion of faces of curved portions of the electrode body from one end to the other end of the electrode body in a winding axis direction of the electrode body.

A separator layer of the all-solid-state battery disclosed herein has a protruding portion protruding outward beyond end portions of opposed portions of a positive electrode and a negative electrode, and at least a part of the protruding portion layer is formed of a dense structure portion that is dense enough to prevent contact between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The dense structure portion is formed at a position satisfying A<B, where A denotes a shortest distance from the end portion of the opposed portions of the positive electrode and the negative electrode to the dense structure portion, and B denotes a shortest distance from a surface of the negative electrode active material layer at the end portion of the opposed portions of the positive electrode and the negative electrode to the positive electrode current collector at the end portion of the opposed portions.

A battery enclosure shaped and sized to accept and surround a battery includes an outer case defining an aperture and having a base forming a bottom of the battery enclosure, the case having a first wall connected to a second wall, the second wall connected to a third wall, and a fourth wall portion connected to the first and third walls, each of the first, second, third, and fourth walls extending orthogonally from the base. The battery enclosure including a separable outer lid shaped to fit around the aperture of the case. The outer case and the outer lid having a material having thermal conductivity of less than about 0.3 W/mK, the battery enclosure has an air inlet selectively providing airflow to the battery enclosure and an air outlet selectively providing airflow from the battery enclosure, the outer case has a first thickness, the outer lid portion has a second thickness.

Nanoporous composite separators are disclosed for use in batteries and capacitors comprising a nanoporous inorganic material and an organic polymer material. The inorganic material may comprise Al.sub.2O.sub.3, AlO(OH) or boehmite, AlN, BN, SiN, ZnO, ZrO.sub.2, SiO.sub.2, or combinations thereof. The nanoporous composite separator may have a porosity of between 35-50%. The average pore size of the nanoporous composite separator may be between 10-90 nm. The separator may be formed by coating a substrate with a dispersion including the inorganic material, organic material, and a solvent. Once dried, the coating may be removed from the substrate, thus forming the nanoporous composite separator. A nanoporous composite separator may provide increased thermal conductivity and dimensional stability at temperatures above 200 C. compared to polyolefin separators.

What is provided is a solid state battery and a solid state battery manufacturing method capable of more reliably preventing short-circuiting. A solid state battery includes: a first electrode piece in which a first electrode active material layer is formed on a first current collector layer; a second electrode piece in which a second electrode active material layer is formed on a second current collector layer; and a bag-shaped solid electrolyte layer which accommodates the first electrode piece, wherein the first electrode piece accommodated in the bag-shaped solid electrolyte layer and the second electrode piece are laminated so as to overlap each other in a plan view so that the first electrode active material layer and the second electrode active material layer are disposed so as to face each other with the solid electrolyte layer interposed therebetween.

Provided is a laminate for a non-aqueous secondary battery that, in transfer of a functional layer onto a substrate for a non-aqueous secondary battery, enables easy peeling of the functional layer from a releasable substrate while also enabling good adhesion of the functional layer to the substrate for a non-aqueous secondary battery. The laminate for a non-aqueous secondary battery includes a releasable substrate and a functional layer containing a binder. The functional layer is formed in a dotted form on a surface A at one side of the releasable substrate.

Disclosed are embossed microporous membranes, as well as articles (e.g., battery separators, materials, textiles, composites, and laminates) comprising the embossed microporous membranes. Also provided are methods of making and/or using embossed microporous membranes.