Material And Coating For Interconnector Busbars

Abstract

In one embodiment, an electrochemical system includes an interconnector busbar including a substrate and a coating contacting the substrate, the coating including a layer of electroplated elemental nickel.

1 . An interconnector busbar comprising:
 a substrate and a coating contacting the substrate, the coating including a layer of electroplated elemental nickel.   
     
     
         2 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate includes soft-annealed copper according to ASTM B152/B152M standard C11000-HO60. 
     
     
         3 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate has a thickness of 750 to 850 micrometers. 
     
     
         4 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1 , wherein the coating includes less than 0.01 weight percent of a hardener. 
     
     
         5 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1 , wherein the coating includes less than 0.01 weight percent of a brightener. 
     
     
         6 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1 , wherein the coating has a thickness of 0.5 to 1.5 micrometers. 
     
     
         7 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1 , wherein the coating includes less than 5 weight percent of phosphorus. 
     
     
         8 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1 , wherein the coating includes less than 5 weight percent of nickel phosphorus NiP. 
     
     
         9 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1 , wherein the coating includes less than 5 weight percent of nickel phosphorus Ni 3 P. 
     
     
         10 . The interconnector busbar of  claim 1  having an equivalent particle contaminant of less than ISO 14644-1 Class 8 and an equivalent organic contaminant of less than 15 milligrams per square meters. 
     
     
         11 . A battery module comprising:
 an interconnector busbar including a substrate and an electroplated nickel coating contacting the substrate, the coating including a thickness of no greater than 5 micrometers.   
     
     
         12 . The battery module of  claim 11 , wherein the coating has a thickness of between 0.5 to 1.5 micrometers. 
     
     
         13 . The battery module of  claim 11 , wherein the coating includes less than 5 weight percent of phosphorus. 
     
     
         14 . The battery module of  claim 11 , wherein the coating includes less than 5 weight percent of nickel phosphorus NiP and Ni 3 P in total. 
     
     
         15 . The battery module of  claim 11 , wherein the substrate includes a soft annealed copper sheet metal according to ASTM B152/B152M standard C11000-HO60. 
     
     
         16 . A method of forming a battery module, comprising:
 forming an interconnector busbar, the interconnector board busbar including a substrate and a coating contacting the substrate, the coating including a layer of elemental nickel.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the coating of the interconnector busbar is electroplated. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the substrate is provided to include a copper sheet metal C11000-HO60 according to ASTM B152/B152M. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising applying the coating onto a copper sheet metal as the substrate to form a coated copper sheet metal and forming the coated copper sheet metal to form the interconnector busbar. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising blanking the coated copper sheet metal prior to forming the interconnector busbar.