ION-CONDUCTING COMPOSITE ELECTROLYTE

• Main Authors: GAGOV, Atanas Valentinov, BADDING, Michael Edward, BROWN, Jacqueline Leslie, FINK, Katherine A, TANNER, Cameron Wayne
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 23.01.2019
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C08B, C08C, C08F,C08G; APPARATUS THEREFOR; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CAPACITORS; CAPACITORS, RECTIFIERS, DETECTORS, SWITCHING DEVICES ORLIGHT-SENSITIVE DEVICES, OF THE ELECTROLYTIC TYPE; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES FOR THE PRODUCTIONOF COMPOUNDS OR NON-METALS; GENERAL PROCESSES OF COMPOUNDING; METALLURGY; ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSIONOF CHEMICAL INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; WORKING-UP

An ion-conducting composite electrolyte (10) is provided comprising path-engineered ion-conducting ceramic electrolyte particles (20) and a solid polymeric matrix (30). The path-engineered particles (20) are characterized by an anisotropic crystalline structure and the ionic conductivity of the crystalline structure in a preferred conductivity direction H associated with one of the crystal planes of the path-engineered particle is larger than the ionic conductivity of the crystalline structure in a reduced conductivity direction L associated with another of the crystal planes of the path-engineered particle. The path-engineered particles are sized and positioned in the polymeric matrix (30) such that a majority of the path-engineered particles breach both of the opposite major faces (32, 34) of the matrix body and are oriented in the polymeric matrix (30) such that the preferred conductivity direction H is more closely aligned with a minimum path length spanning a thickness of the matrix body than is the reduced conductivity direction L.