JP2012199243A - Electrochemical cell - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in which the decomposition reaction of an electrolytic solution on the surface of an electrode is activated in an electrochemical cell such as a secondary cell and a capacitor when a high voltage or a high temperature is applied.SOLUTION: An electrochemical cell contains a radical scavenger which scavenges radicals caused by the decomposition reaction of an electrolytic solution.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrochemical cell that can charge and discharge capacitors and secondary batteries and uses a non-aqueous electrolyte as an electrolyte, and more particularly, an electrochemical cell with improved heat resistance and high voltage resistance. About.

  Electrochemical cells that can be charged and discharged, such as capacitors and lithium ion secondary batteries using a non-aqueous electrolyte, have a higher energy density than nickel-metal hydride batteries using an aqueous electrolyte. Therefore, the electrochemical cell can be reduced in size and weight, and the cellular phone. It is widely used for portable information electronic devices such as camcorders and notebook personal computers, as well as devices for which commercial power cannot be obtained by connecting cables.

Electrochemical cells such as capacitors and secondary batteries using non-aqueous electrolytes are characterized in that a higher voltage can be obtained by using an organic solvent or the like as the solvent of the electrolyte, compared to batteries of aqueous electrolytes. . There is a need to increase the voltage to obtain higher energy density.
In this case, the voltage that can be applied to the electrochemical cell depends not only on the electrochemical characteristics of the electrode material but also on the potential window of the electrolyte solvent. In addition, since a small electrochemical cell such as a coin type or a button type is mounted on a circuit board of a device, it is required to enable a mounting method such as reflow and high temperature resistance is also required.

  At the time of the high voltage or high temperature as described above, there is a problem that the electrolytic solution is decomposed on the electrode surface to generate gas and the characteristics of the electrochemical cell are deteriorated. In addition, there is a problem that the safety device is activated and the current is cut off due to an increase in internal pressure inside the electrochemical cell.

  In order to suppress the decomposition reaction of the solvent on the electrode surface, an electrolytic solution containing an additive has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-321313

  However, since the additive described above forms a film on the electrode surface to exhibit a reaction suppressing effect, there is a problem that the internal resistance of the electrochemical cell increases and the charge / discharge characteristics are reduced.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and at least includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, and a nonaqueous electrolytic solution containing an electrolyte, which is stable and suppresses decomposition of the electrolytic solution even at high voltage or high temperature. It is an object to provide an electrochemical cell.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is an electrochemical cell comprising a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, and a nonaqueous electrolytic solution impregnated in the electrochemical cell and containing an electrolyte, The positive electrode and the negative electrode each include an electrode active material and an electron conductive agent, and the non-aqueous electrolyte contains a radical scavenger that suppresses generation of gas generated by decomposition of the non-aqueous electrolyte. It is characterized by being.

  Further, the radical scavenger according to the present invention is dissolved in the non-aqueous electrolyte.

  The radical scavenger according to the present invention is fullerene.

The electrode active material according to the present invention is a _{Li x M y Si 1-y} M y O z (0 <x ≦ 6,0 ≦ y <1,0 <z <2, M excludes alkali metal It is a silicon oxide represented by a chemical formula of a metal or a metal other than silicon).

  Here, any radical scavenger can be used as long as it can capture a nucleophilic radical. Examples include ketolactone, cyclic ketoacetal, cyclic hydroxyacetal, hydroxylactone, cyclic borate ester, fullerene, pyrrololine and the like. Of these, fullerene is preferred. As the fullerene, C60, C70, C76, C86, C116, and the like can be considered, but any of these simple substances and mixtures can be used.

  According to the electrochemical cell of the present invention, a stable electrochemical cell can be realized by suppressing the decomposition reaction of the electrolytic solution at a high temperature. Further, the voltage can be improved, and the energy density of the electrochemical cell can be improved.

  Moreover, it is not necessary to form a highly resistive film on the electrode surface, and the above effect can be obtained while maintaining high charge / discharge characteristics.

It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the electrochemical cell of this invention. In the electrochemical cell of this invention, it is sectional drawing which shows an example which has arrange | positioned the radical scavenger layer on the opposing surface of an electrode. (It is a diagram schematically showing the position of the radical scavenger layer, and does not limit the thickness of the radical scavenger layer.) It is a figure which shows the cross section of an example of the electrode containing the radical scavenger of the electrochemical cell of this invention. (The figure schematically shows the state of the electrode material, conductive additive, and radical scavenger in the electrode, and the shape, size, and amount of each material are not shown in this figure.) In the electrochemical cell of this invention, it is sectional drawing which shows an example which has arrange | positioned the radical scavenger layer on the surface of electrode material. In the electrochemical cell of this invention, it is sectional drawing which shows an example which has arrange | positioned the radical scavenger layer on the separator surface. In the electrochemical cell of this invention, it is sectional drawing which shows an example which has arrange | positioned the radical scavenger layer on the container inner surface.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Constituent elements represented by the same reference numerals in the drawings are common to the drawings and indicate the same constituent elements.

It shows as an example of implementation of the present invention, and is not limited to this.
Example 1
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a button type cell which is an example of an electrochemical cell according to the present invention. The negative electrode can 101 and the positive electrode can 102 are sealed by caulking through a gasket 103. The anode 111 and the cathode 112 are opposed to each other with a separator 113 interposed therebetween. The electrolytic solution is impregnated in the negative electrode 111, the positive electrode 112, and the separator 113, and has a structure that fills the voids inside the cell.

  The material of the negative electrode can and the positive electrode can may be anything as long as it is electrochemically stable and an electronic conductor. For example, in addition to stainless steel, aluminum, nickel, copper, titanium, carbon, etc., the surface of copper or stainless steel treated with carbon, nickel, titanium, gold or the like can be used.

  The material used for the gasket 103 may be any material as long as it has high electrical insulation, low moisture permeability, and can maintain high airtightness between the negative electrode can 101 and the positive electrode can 102 by caulking. For example, polypropylene, polystyrene, PEEK, PPS, etc. can be used.

  Examples of the electrochemical cell include a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery and a capacitor such as an electric double layer capacitor.

  In the case of a capacitor, the electrode is mainly composed of a carbon material, a conductive material, and a binder, and coconut shell activated carbon or phenol activated carbon is used as the carbon material. Further, carbon black and natural graphite are used as the conductive material, and polytetrafluoroethylene, vinylidene fluoride copolymer, and the like are used as the binder.

  As the separator 113, a nonwoven fabric made of glass fiber or the like, a polyolefin porous film, or the like is used.

  As the electrolytic solution, a solution in which propylene carbonate or the like is used as a solvent and ammonium salt or phosphonium salt or the like is used as a solute is used.

  In the case of a lithium ion battery as an example of a secondary battery, the electrode is mainly composed of an active material capable of inserting and extracting lithium ions, a conductive material, and a binder.

Active materials for the positive electrode include metal chalcogenides such as TiS ₂ , MoS ₂ , NbSe ₃ , MnO ₂ , MoO ₃ , V ₂ O ₅ , Li _x CoO ₂ , Li _x NiO ₂ , Li _x Mn ₂ O ₄ etc. Various materials capable of occluding and releasing lithium ions and / or anions such as metal oxides, polyaniline, polypyrrole, polyparaphenylene, polyacene, and other conductive polymers, and graphite intercalation compounds can be used.

In particular, the electrode potential for metal lithium such as metal chalcogenide or metal oxide is 2 V or more, more preferably V ₂ O ₅ , MnO ₂ , Li _x CoO ₂ , Li _x NiO ₂ , Li _x Mn ₂ O ₄ or the like. By combining a (noble) active material having a high potential of 3V to 4V or more and a negative electrode using a (base) active material having a low potential of 1V or less with respect to metallic lithium described later. Since a secondary battery having a high energy density is obtained, it is more preferable.

The active material of the negative electrode, metallic lithium, carbonaceous materials, Li _x Si, metal oxides, nitrides, silicides, _{carbides, Li x M y Si 1-} y M y O z (0 <x ≦ 6,0 ≦ y <1,0 <z <2, and M represents various substances capable of occluding and releasing lithium ions and / or anions such as silicon oxide represented by a metal other than an alkali metal or a metal other than silicon). Can be used.

In particular, (a 0 <x ≦ 6,0 ≦ y < 1,0 <z <2, M is metalloid other than a metal or silicon excluding alkali _{metal) Li x M y Si 1-} y M y O z with Since the shown silicon oxide has a large charge / discharge capacity in a region where the electrode potential with respect to metallic lithium is 1 V or less, a secondary having high voltage and high energy density can be obtained by combining with the positive electrode using the positive electrode active material. Since a battery is obtained, it is more preferable.

  As the binder, in addition to polytetrafluoroethylene and vinylidene fluoride copolymer, various water-soluble polymers such as natural product polymers and synthetic resins can be used. Examples of water-soluble polymers include natural starches such as starch-based starch, modified starch, dextrin, cellulose-based methylcellulose, ethylcellulose, hydroxyethylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), rubber-based gum arabic, tragacanth gum, karaya gum, locust Examples include bean rubber and guar rubber. In the synthetic resin system, polyvinyl alcohols, polyacrylamide, polyethylene oxide, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, vinyl acetate copolymer, acrylic acid polymer, and the like can be used. Among them, acrylic polymer, CMC, and the like are preferable because they have good binding properties to a current collector of a metal such as aluminum or copper. Furthermore, it is effective to use a cross-linked acrylic acid polymer in order to enhance the binding property. In particular, the carboxyl group content in the cross-linked acrylic acid polymer is preferably 50 to 70%.

The electrolyte includes non-aqueous electrolytes such as γ-butyrolactone, propylene carbonate, ethylene carbonate (EC), butylene carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, methyl formate, 1,2-dimethoxyethane, tetrahydrofuran, dioxolane, dimethylformamide, etc. Lithium ion dissociable salts such as LiClO ₄ , LiPF ₆ , LiBF ₄ , LiCF ₃ SO ₃ , LiC (SO ₂ CF ₃ ) ₃ , LiN (SO ₂ CF ₃ ) ₂ as a supporting electrolyte in a single or mixed organic solvent Lithium ion conductivity such as organic non-aqueous electrolytes dissolved in water, polymer solid electrolytes in which the lithium salt is dissolved in polymers such as polyethylene oxide and polyphosphazene crosslinked polymers, or inorganic solid electrolytes such as Li ₃ N and LiI The non-aqueous electrolyte can be used.

In particular, a _{Li x M y Si 1-y} M y O z (0 <x ≦ 6,0 ≦ y <1,0 <z <2 , are employed as the anode active material, metal or silicon M is other than an alkali metal In the case of using a silicon oxide represented by the above-mentioned other metals, it is preferable to use a mixed solvent of symmetric and asymmetric alkyl carbonates such as dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, ethyl methyl carbonate and EC. More preferably, the volume mixing ratio of EC and alkyl carbonate is in the range of about 3: 1 to about 1: 3.

  Here, a case of a capacitor will be described as an example. Yashigara activated carbon, carbon black as a conductive material, and polytetrafluoroethylene dispersion as a binder were mixed and kneaded at a weight ratio of 8: 1: 1, and then molded to a diameter of 2.4 mm and a thickness of 0.5 mm. These were used as positive and negative electrodes. This was affixed to the inside of the positive electrode can and the negative electrode can with a conductive adhesive using carbon as a filler to obtain a positive electrode unit and a negative electrode unit. The separator was made of glass fiber (GS-25D) having a thickness of 0.2 mm and a diameter of 3.2 mm, and the gasket was made of PEEK and molded into a predetermined size.

  Thoroughly dry the positive electrode unit, negative electrode unit, separator and gasket, and after installing the separator on the negative electrode unit in a dry room with a relative humidity of 2% or less, the electrolyte is 3.0 mg for the positive electrode unit and 3.8 mg for the negative electrode unit. Injected. As an electrolytic solution, a solution obtained by dissolving 1M tetraethylammonium-BF4 as a solute in propylene carbonate as a solvent was used. Each unit was combined and sealed by caulking to form a capacitor.

When this capacitor is stored for 5 days with 3.3V applied in an environment of 80 ° C (HTV80-05), the increase in internal resistance (AC method, frequency 1kHz) is the ratio to the internal resistance before storage. Are shown in Table 1.
(Example 2)
FIG. 2 shows an example of a structure in which a radical scavenger layer 201 is provided on the opposing surface of the electrode of the electrochemical cell of the present invention. Specifically, a solution in which fullerene C60 is dissolved in a volatile solvent such as xylene is applied to the surface of each of the positive electrode unit and the negative electrode unit of the capacitor shown in Example 1 in contact with the separator, and the fullerene solution is applied. A capacitor was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the layer was constructed, and the change in internal resistance after HTV80-05 was measured. The measurement results are shown in Table 1 as in Example 1.
(Example 3)
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a state where the radical scavenger 303 is contained in the electrode of the electrochemical cell of the present invention. Specifically, activated carbon, carbon black as a conductive material, and polytetrafluoroethylene dispersion and fullerene C70 as a binder are 7.9: 1: 1: 0.1 in a weight ratio. A capacitor was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the change in internal resistance was measured after HTV80-05. The measurement results are shown in Table 1 as in Example 1.
Example 4
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a state in which the radical scavenger 402 is arranged on the electrode material surface of the electrochemical cell of the present invention. Specifically, coconut husk activated carbon was mixed with a solution of fullerene C60 dissolved in a volatile solvent, and the solvent was volatilized to provide a fullerene layer on the surface of the palm. Otherwise, a capacitor was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1, and the change in internal resistance after HTV80-05 was measured. The measurement results are shown in Table 1 as in Example 1.
(Example 5)
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a state in which the radical scavenger layer 501 is disposed on the surface in contact with the electrode of the separator of the electrochemical cell of the present invention. Specifically, a fullerene C60 solution dissolved in a volatile solvent was applied on both sides of the separator, and the solvent was volatilized to provide a fullerene layer on the surface of the separator. Otherwise, a capacitor was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1, and the change in internal resistance after HTV80-05 was measured. The measurement results are shown in Table 1 as in Example 1.
(Example 6)
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a state in which the radical scavenger layer 601 is arranged inside the container of the electrochemical cell of the present invention. Specifically, a fullerene C60 solution dissolved in a volatile solvent was applied as shown in FIG. 6, and the fullerene layer was provided on the inner surfaces of the positive electrode can and the negative electrode can by volatilizing the solvent. Otherwise, a capacitor was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1, and the change in internal resistance after HTV80-05 was measured. The measurement results are shown in Table 1 as in Example 1.
(Example 7)
A capacitor was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that an electrolytic solution in which 1% by weight of fullerene C60 was mixed was used, and the change in internal resistance after HTV80-05 was measured. The measurement results are shown in Table 1 as in Example 1.

  From Table 1 that summarizes the results of the above examples, by using fullerene as a radical scavenger, the rate of increase in internal resistance after HTV80-05 is low, and deterioration due to decomposition of the electrolyte at high voltage and high temperature is suppressed. I understand that.

  Table 1 shows the change rate of the internal impedance of the capacitor of each example after storage at 3.3 ° C. for 5 days at 80 ° C.

  An electrochemical cell that is composed of at least a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, and a non-aqueous electrolyte containing an electrolyte. The electrochemical cell includes a radical scavenger, so that the withstand voltage can be improved and the heat resistance is high. A cell can be realized. This makes it possible to realize an electrochemical cell having a higher energy density, excellent long-term stability, and less deterioration even when exposed to high temperatures such as reflow.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Positive electrode can 102 Negative electrode can 103 Gasket 111 Positive electrode 112 Negative electrode 113 Separator 201 Radical scavenger layer 301 Electrode active material 302 Electroconductive agent 303 Radical scavenger contained in the electrode 401 Electrode material 402 Radical scavenger layer 501 on the electrode material surface Radical scavenger layer 601 disposed on the separator surface Radical scavenger layer disposed on the inner surface of the electrochemical cell container

Claims (4)

An electrochemical cell,
A positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, and a nonaqueous electrolytic solution impregnated in the electrochemical cell and containing an electrolyte,
The positive electrode and the negative electrode have an electrode active material and an electronic conductive agent,
The electrochemical cell characterized in that the non-aqueous electrolyte contains a radical scavenger that suppresses the generation of gas generated by the decomposition of the non-aqueous electrolyte.   The electrochemical cell according to claim 1, wherein the radical scavenger is dissolved in the non-aqueous electrolyte.   The electrochemical cell according to claim 2, wherein the radical scavenger is fullerene. The electrode active material is _{Li x M y Si 1-y} M y O z (0 <x ≦ 6,0 ≦ y <1,0 <z <2, M except a metal or silicon excluding alkali metal The electrochemical cell according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electrochemical cell is a silicon oxide represented by a chemical formula of a similar metal.

Images