Stable, high performance lithium/iron disulfide cell with LiCl-LiBr-KBr molten electrolyte

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:7242767

Kaun, T D

A stable Li-Al/FeS/sub 2/ cell with a greater than 50% increase in specific energy and specific power has been developed. This cell has two major changes from earlier cells of this type: (1) a novel electrolyte, 25 mol % LiCl-37 mol % LiBr-38 mol % KBr (m.p. 310/sup 0/C) rather than 58 mol % LiCl-42 mol % KCl (m.p. 352/sup 0/C), and (2) a higher loading density (2.4 vs. 1.5 Ah/cm/sup 3/) for the FeS/sub 2/ electrode, which is then operated only on its higher voltage plateau (1.75 V vs. Li-Al). This cell design is designated ''dense upper-plateau (U.P.) FeS/sub 2/ cell'' to distinguish it from the conventional ''two-plateau (T.P.) FeS/sub 2/ cell.'' The new electrolyte permits reduced operating temperatures of 380 to 420/sup 0/C. Conventional cells are operated in a temperature range of 425 to 460/sup 0/C. The use of the dense U.P.-FeS/sub 2/ electrode and the lower melting LiCl-LiBr-KBr electrolyte has eliminated the capacity-loss problem of the Li-Al/FeS/sub 2/ system. A dense U.P.-FeS/sub 2/ electrode cell had no change in capacity utilization (about 89%) after 400 cycles (5400 h) of operation. With LiCl-KCl electrolyte, a FeS/sub 2/ cell would have lost 30% of its capacity in the first 200 cycles. Based on the improved performance, advanced cell designs are expected to achieve a specific energy of 175 Wh/kg at 4-h rate and a specific power of 200 W/kg at 80% depth of discharge.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 7242767
• Report Number(s): CONF-860810-38; ON: DE87001475
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
250901* -- Energy Storage-- Batteries-- Design & Development
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALLOYS
BROMIDES
BROMINE COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DESIGN
ELECTRIC BATTERIES
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ELECTRODES
ELECTROLYTES
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SULFIDES
LITHIUM ALLOYS
LITHIUM BROMIDES
LITHIUM CHLORIDES
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM HALIDES
METAL-NONMETAL BATTERIES
MOLTEN SALTS
PERFORMANCE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POTASSIUM BROMIDES
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
SALTS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS