Capacitor-battery hybrid formed by plasma powder electrode coating

Abstract

Atmospheric plasma spray devices and methods are used in the making of the electrodes for both a lithium-ion battery and a lithium-ion utilizing capacitor structure, which are to be placed in a common container and infiltrated with a common lithium-ion transporting, liquid electrolyte. The lithium-ion-utilizing capacitor and lithium-ion cell battery are combined such that the respective electrodes may be electrically connected, either in series or parallel connection for in energy storage and management in an automotive vehicle or other electrical power supply application.

1 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) a capacitor that both use a common lithium ion conducting electrolyte; the method comprising:
 forming porous positive and negative electrode material layers for the capacitor by separately using an atmospheric plasma stream to deposit particles of capacitor positive electrode material as a porous positive electrode layer bonded to a one side of a porous separator member or to a metal positive electrode current collector, and, separately, to deposit particles of capacitor negative electrode material as a porous negative electrode layer bonded to the opposing side of a porous separator member or to a metal negative electrode current collector, at least one of the positive and negative electrode materials being of a composition to work with the electrolyte used with the lithium-ion battery;   assembling one or more pairs of capacitor positive and negative electrodes as a capacitor with each positive electrode layer bonded to a porous separator on one of its layer sides and to a positive electrode current collector on the other of its layer sides, and with one layer side of each negative electrode layer bonded to the opposite side of a porous separator from a positive electrode layer and to a negative electrode current collector on the other of its negative electrode layer sides;   placing the assembled capacitor in a container with a lithium-ion battery comprising one or more pairs of porous layer, positive and negative electrode members with corresponding porous separators ; and   infiltrating the porous electrodes and separators of the capacitor and the porous layer electrodes and separators of the lithium-ion battery with the same lithium ion conducting liquid electrolyte composition.   
     
     
         2 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) a capacitor as stated in  claim 1  in which porous layer electrodes and separators of the lithium-ion battery are formed with like sizes and shapes as the electrodes and separators for the capacitor. 
     
     
         3 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) as recited in  claim 1  in which particles of capacitor positive electrode material are deposited as a positive capacitor electrode layer on one side of a porous separator and particles of a capacitor negative electrode layer are deposited as a negative capacitor electrode layer on the other side of the porous separator layer. 
     
     
         4 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) as recited in  claim 3  in which particles of metal current collector material are deposited on the sides of each of the positive electrode layer and the negative electrode layer that are not bonded to the porous separator. 
     
     
         5 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) as recited in  claim 4  in which a layer of positive electrode material is deposited on the exposed side of the positive electrode current collector and a layer of negative electrode material is deposited on the exposed side of the negative electrode current collector. 
     
     
         6 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) as recited in  claim 1  in which layers of capacitor positive electrode material are deposited on both sides of a positive current collector foil to form a positive capacitor electrode, layers of capacitor negative electrode material are deposited on both sides of a negative current collector foil to form a capacitor negative electrode, and the capacitor electrodes are placed on opposite sides of a porous separator. 
     
     
         7 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) as recited in  claim 6  in which the positive current collector foil is an aluminum foil and the negative current collector foil is a copper foil. 
     
     
         8 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) as recited in  claim 1  in which the capacitor positive electrode material comprises activated carbon or graphite. 
     
     
         9 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) as recited in  claim 1  in which the capacitor negative electrode material comprises activated carbon or graphite. 
     
     
         10 . A method of forming a hybrid combination of a (i) lithium-ion battery and (ii) as recited in  claim 1  in which the capacitor positive electrode material comprises activated carbon and the capacitor negative electrode material comprises Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 . 
     
     
         11 . A method of making a combination of (i) a lithium-ion battery and (ii) a capacitor comprising an electrode that uses the lithium-containing electrolyte composition of the lithium-ion battery, for placement of the capacitor and battery in a common container for use with a common lithium ion conducting electrolyte; the capacitor comprising a plurality of positive capacitor electrode layers and of negative capacitor electrode layers, one side of each positive electrode layer facing one side of a negative electrode layer with the facing sides of the electrode layers being physically separated by a porous separator layer, and the opposing sides of the electrode layers being bonded to current collector foils; the method comprising:
 heating particles of positive capacitor electrode material in an atmospheric plasma stream and depositing the heated particles as a porous positive capacitor electrode layer, either on the surface of a metal current collector foil for the positive electrode material or on one surface of a porous capacitor separator with two opposing surfaces;   heating particles of negative capacitor electrode material in an atmospheric plasma stream and depositing the heated particles as a porous negative capacitor electrode layer, either on the surface of a metal current collector foil for the negative electrode material or on the opposing surface of the porous capacitor separator;   completing the formation of the capacitor with a surface of each of the atmospheric plasma-deposited positive and negative electrode layers separated from electrical contact by a porous separator and with the opposite surface of each capacitor electrode being covered and bonded for electrical contact with a metal current collector shaped with a connector tab for electrical contact with another electrode member;   placing the capacitor in a common container with a lithium-ion battery comprising porous battery electrodes and separators, but with the capacitor and lithium-ion battery separated from physical contact with each other; and   infiltrating the electrodes and separators of the capacitor and battery with a common lithium ion-conducting electrolyte.   
     
     
         12 . A method of making a combination of (i) a lithium-ion battery and (ii) a capacitor as recited in  claim 11  in which particles of capacitor positive electrode material are plasma deposited on both sides of a metal current collector to form a capacitor positive electrode, particles of capacitor negative electrode material are plasma deposited on both sides of a metal current collector to form a capacitor negative electrode, and the positive and negative electrodes are placed on opposite sides of a porous separator. 
     
     
         13 . A method of making a combination of (i) a lithium-ion battery and (ii) a capacitor as recited in  claim 11  in which particles of capacitor positive electrode material are plasma deposited as a positive electrode layer on one side of a porous capacitor separator, particles of capacitor negative electrode material are plasma deposited as a negative electrode layer on the opposite side of a porous capacitor separator, and metallic current collectors with connector tabs are formed on the exposed sides of the positive electrode layer and the negative electrode layer. 
     
     
         14 . A method of making electrode materials for a positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structure of a capacitor which is to be used in combination with a positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structure of a lithium-ion battery, the capacitor electrode materials being compatible with like-made electrode materials for the lithium-ion battery, the capacitor electrode materials and lithium-ion battery electrode materials being made for use with a common lithium-conducting electrolyte and placement in a common container as a hybridized combination, the method comprising:
 depositing particles, which are dispersed and heated in an atmospheric plasma stream, as a porous layer of capacitor positive electrode material, deposited, either on a surface of a metal current collector foil for the positive electrode material or on a surface of a porous capacitor separator with two opposing surfaces, to form a porous layer of positive electrode material with one layer side contacting the current collector foil, or the surface of the separator, and with an opposing positive electrode material layer side;   separately depositing particles, which are dispersed and heated in an atmospheric plasma stream, as a layer of capacitor negative electrode material, either on the surface of a metal current collector foil for the negative electrode material or on one surface of a porous capacitor separator with two opposing surfaces, to form a porous layer of negative electrode material with one layer side contacting the negative current collector foil, or the surface of the separator, and an opposing negative electrode material layer side; and   using the plasma deposited layer of capacitor positive electrode material and the plasma deposited layer of capacitor negative electrode material in an assembly of a layered capacitor structure comprising a porous separator with a layer of capacitor positive electrode material on one separator surface and a layer of capacitor negative electrode material on the opposing separator surface, and each of the layers of capacitor electrode material having a current collector foil on their opposing material layer side.   
     
     
         15 . A method of making electrode materials for a capacitor as recited in  claim 14  in which
 a layer of capacitor positive electrode particles are plasma deposited on each side of a metallic current collector foil to form a positive capacitor electrode; 
 a layer of capacitor negative electrode materials are plasma deposited on each side of a metallic current collector foil to form a negative capacitor electrode; and 
 the positive capacitor electrode is placed with one of its layers of electrode particles against one side of a porous separator and the negative electrode is placed with one of its layers of electrode particles against the opposite side of the porous separator to form the positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structure of a capacitor. 
 
     
     
         16 . A method of making electrode materials for a capacitor as recited in  claim 14  in which
 a layer of capacitor positive electrode particles are plasma deposited on one side of a porous separator; a layer of particles of a metallic current collector are deposited on the layer of particles of capacitor positive electrode material, and a layer of capacitor positive electrode particles are plasma deposited on the metallic current collector layer; and 
 a layer of capacitor negative electrode particles are plasma deposited on the opposite side of the porous separator; a layer of particles of a metallic current collector are deposited on the layer of particles of capacitor negative electrode material, and a layer of capacitor negative electrode particles are plasma deposited on the metallic current collector layer to form the to form the positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structure of a capacitor. 
 
     
     
         17 . A method of making electrode materials for a capacitor as recited in  claim 15  and further comprising placing the positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structure of the capacitor into a common container with, but spaced from, the positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structure of a lithium battery and impregnating the electrodes and separators of both the capacitor and lithium-ion battery with a liquid, lithium-conducting electrolyte. 
     
     
         18 . A method of making electrode materials for a capacitor as recited in  claim 16  and further comprising placing the positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structure of the capacitor into a common container with, but spaced from, the positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structure of a lithium battery and impregnating the electrodes and separators of both the capacitor and lithium-ion battery with a liquid, lithium-conducting electrolyte. 
     
     
         19 . A method of making electrode materials for a capacitor as recited in  claim 17  in which a plurality of positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structures are placed in the common container with intervening separators and with the positive electrodes connected to a positive electrode terminal and the negative electrodes connected to a negative electrode terminal. 
     
     
         20 . A method of making electrode materials for a capacitor as recited in  claim 18  in which a plurality of positive electrode-separator-negative electrode structures are placed in the common container with intervening separators and with the positive electrodes connected to a positive electrode terminal and the negative electrodes connected to a negative electrode terminal.