Organic/Inorganic Composite Porous Membrane And Electrochemical Device Using The Same
Abstract:
The present invention provides an organic/inorganic composite porous separator, which
comprises: (a) a porous substrate having pores; and (b) an organic/inorganic composite layer
formed by coating at least one region selected from the group consisting of a surface of the
substrate and a part of pores present in the substrate with a mixture of inorganic porous particles
and a binder polymer, wherein the inorganic porous particles have a plurality of macropores with
a diameter of 50nm or greater in the particle itself thereby form a pore structure, a manufacturing
method thereof, and an electrochemical device using the same. As an additional pathway for
lithium ions is created due to a number of pores existing in the inorganic porous particle itself,
degradation in the battery performance can be minimized, and energy density per unit weight can
be increased by the weight loss effect.
Get Free WhatsApp Updates!
Notices, Deadlines & Correspondence
103-904, EXPO APARTMENT, JEONMIN-DONG, YUSEONG-GU, DAEJEON 305-761
6. AHN SOON HO
108-502, DAELIM DURE APARTMENT, SHINSUNG-DONG, YUSEONG-GU, DAEJEON 305-720
Specification
Description
ORGANIC/INORGANIC COMPOSITE POROUS
MEMBRANE AND ELECTROCHEMICAL DEVICE USING
THE SAME
Technical Field
[1] The present invention relates to a novel organic/inorganic composite porous
separator that can ensure electrochemical safety and improve quality at the same time,
and an electrochemical device using the same. More specifically, the present invention
relates to a novel organic/inorganic composite porous separator which contains
inorganic porous particles, each having a plurality of pores therein, as a coating
material to form an organic/inorganic composite porous layer of a uniform pore size
and porosity, and an electrochemical device comprising the same.
Background Art
[2] Recently, there is increasing interest in energy storage technology. Batteries have
been widely used as energy sources in portable phones, camcorders, notebook
computers, PCs and electric cars, resulting in intensive research and development for
them. In this regard, electrochemical devices are the subject of great interest. Par-
ticularly, development of rechargeable secondary batteries is the focus of attention.
[3] Among the currently used secondary batteries, lithium secondary batteries,
developed in early 1990's, have a drive voltage and an energy density higher than those
of conventional batteries using aqueous electrolytes (such as Ni-MH batteries, Ni-Cd
batteries and H2 SO4 -Pb batteries) and thus are spotlighted in the field of secondary
batteries. However, lithium secondary batteries have problems related to their safety,
due to ignition and explosion caused by the use of organic electrolytes, and are man-
ufactured by a complicated process. lithium ion polymer batteries, appearing more
recently, solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of secondary lithium ion batteries,
and thus become one of the most potent candidates of next generation batteries.
However, such secondary lithium ion polymer batteries still have low capacity compared to secondary lithium ion batteries. Particularly, they show insufficient discharge capacity at low temperature. Hence, there is an imminent need for the im-
provement of secondary lithium ion batteries.
[4] A lithium ion battery is manufactured by coating a cathode active material (e.g.
IiCoO ) and an anode active material (e.g. graphite) which have crystal structures
including interstitial volumes, onto the corresponding current collector (i.e. aluminum
fell and copper foil, respectively) to provide a cathode and an anode. Then, a separator
is interposed between both electrodes to form an electrode assembly, and an electrolyte
is injected into the electrode assembly. During a charge cycle of the battery, lithium in-
tercalated into the crystal structure of the cathode active material is deintercalated, and
then intercalated into the crystal structure of the anode active material. On the other
hand, during a discharge cycle, lithium intercalated into the anode active material is
deintercalated again, and then intercalated back into the crystal structure of the
cathode. As charge/discharge cycles are repeated, lithium ions reciprocate between the
cathode and the anode. In this regard, a lithium ion battery is also referred to as a
rocking chair battery.
[5] Such batteries have been produced by many battery producers. However, most
lithium secondary batteries have different safety characteristics depending on several
factors. E/aluation of and security in safety of batteries are very important matters to
be considered. Particularly, users should be protected from being damaged by mal-
functioning batteries. Therefore, safety of batteries is strictly restricted in terms of
ignition and combustion of batteries by safety standards.
[6] Many attempts have been made to solve the problem related to the safety of a
battery, However, ignition of a battery, caused by a forced internal short circuit due to
external impacts (particularly, in the case of a customer-abused battery) cannot be solved yet.
[7] Recently, US Patent No. 6,432,586 discloses a polyolefin-based separator coated
with an inorganic layer such as calcium carbonate, silica, etc., so as to prevent an
internal short circuit, caused by dendrite growth inside of a battery. Ebwever, in case
of adopting such an inorganic composite layer, the battery, compared with the con-
ventional battery using a polymer separator, gets heavier and its quality is deteriorated.
In particular, since a part of non-porous inorganic particles in the inorganic material
layer influences as resistance to the movement of lithium ions that determines quality
of a battery, it is fundamentally not possible to avoid the quality deterioration of the
battery. Moreover, an increase in weight by the inorganic material layer causes a
decrease in energy density of the battery per unit weight. If the inorganic substance
content in the coating layer is reduced to solve this, however, it poses another problem
that a satisfactory level of an internal short circuit prevention function is not obtained.
[8] Meanwhile, the international union of pure and applied chemistry (TUPAC) defines
a pore of 2nm or shorter in diameter as a micropore, a pore of 2 to 50nm in diameter as
a mesopore, and a pore of 50nm or greater in diameter as a macropore. Porous
materials are expected to hold interest continuously not only for industrial applications
but also for academic aspects. Pores are something to be removed in the field of
powder metallurgy to obtain a sintered compact, and regarded as defects to be
controlled in a casting process to manufacture a sound casting. Nevertheless, a porous
material having pores of uniform size and regular arrangement is continuously utilized
in various industries that appreciate adsorption and separation efficiency of the porous
material. Manufacturing methods of such porous materials include a self-assembly
technique, an aerogel manufacturing technique through a sol-gel process, an anodic
oxidation technique of aluminum, a condensation drying technique and the like.
However, these techniques are mainly used for manufacturing films or monolith
porous materials, not for particles.
Disclosure of Invention
Technical Problem
[9] In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide
an organic/inorganic composite porous separator formed of (a) a porous substrate, (b)
an organic/inorganic composite layer, and (c) inorganic particles with pore structures
of uniform size, in which the organic/inorganic composite coating layer formed on the
porous substrate contains inorganic porous particles having a number of macropores,
so that the flow of lithium ions may progress smoothly, degree of swelling with
electrolyte may be improved, and energy density per unit weight of a device may be
significantly increased due to a substantial decrease in the weight of the organic/
inorganic composite porous separator.
Technical Solution
[10] An aspect of the present invention provides an organic/inorganic composite porous
separator, which comprises: (a) a porous substrate having pores; and (b) an organic/
inorganic composite layer formed by coating at least one region selected from the
group consisting of a surface of the substrate and a part of pores present in the
substrate with a mixture of inorganic porous particles and a binder polymer, wherein
the inorganic porous particles have a plurality of macropores with a diameter of 50nm
or greater in the particle itself thereby form a pore structure; and an electrochemical
device (preferably, a lithium secondary battery) comprising the same.
[11] Another aspect of the present invention provides a manufacturing method of the
orgamc/inorganic composite porous separator, which includes the steps of: (a)
dispersing inorganic precursors and heat-decomposable compounds in a dispersion
medium, misting the inorganic precursor solution, and performing a thermal de-
composition and a crystallization processes, to thereby prepare inorganic porous
particles; (b) adding and mixing the inorganic porous particles obtained from step (a)
with a polymer solution containing a binder polymer; and (c) coating the mixture
obtained from step (b) on at least one region selected from the group consisting of a
surface of the substrate having pores and a part of the pores in the substrate, followed
by drying.
[12] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in further detail.
[13] The present invention is characterized in that it utilizes inorganic porous particles as
a component for an organic/inorganic composite layer (active layer) coated on a
porous substrate having pores.
[14] As an attempt to resolve poor thermal safety of a conventional polymer separator, a
composite separator containing inorganic particles in a polymer separator substrate
was used. However, the inorganic particles provided here were non-porous inorganic
particles (see FIG. 3). Besides, even though there may be some pores, they were only
micropores having a diameter of 2nm or less (see FIG. 4). Therefore, the conventional
separator as an end product (i.e., a solid electrolyte) also has a dense inorganic coating
layer with no pores, or, if any, it fails to serve as an effective spacer for transmitting
lithium ions because it has an irregular pore structure with the pore size in unit of
angstrom (A) (see FIG. 1 for reference). In other words, despite the improvement of
thermal safety, the battery can still have a degraded quality due to a low porosity.
[15] On the contrary, the organic/inorganic composite porous separator according to the
present invention is distinct from the ones in the art in that it contains many inorganic
porous particles with macropores of uniform size and shape (see FIG. 5).
[16] Pores in the separator function not only as a pathway of an active component, e.g.,
lithium ions (Li+) resulting in electrochemical reactions in an electrochemical device,
but also as a space where an electrolyte transmitting lithium ions swells. After all, an
increase of pores means an increase of the pathway for lithium ions and an expansion
of the electrolyte swelling space. From this viewpoint, the pore size and the porosity
are very important factors for the control of ion conductivity in a battery and thus, are
directly related to the quality of the battery.
[17] That is, in a case that lithium ions causing an electrochemical reaction in a lithium
secondary battery travel to both electrodes, pores in a separator placed between both
electrodes can theoretically work as a pathway for the lithium ions as long as the pores
have a diameter equal to or greater than that of the lithium ion. For information, the
diameter of the lithium ion is several angstroms (A). In reality, however, when lithium
ions travel to both electrodes, they do not travel alone but are solvated by a number of
molecules of carbonate based compounds for example in the electrolyte as a transfer
medium. Therefore, if pore size or porosity of the separator is within the approximate
range of the diameter of the lithium ion, the mobility of lithium ions is reduced and
hence, their ion conductivity in the battery is decreased, leading to degraded battery
quality.
[18] For example, in a case that the electrolyte contains ethylene carbonate (EC)
dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and the like, lithium ions are solvated, being tightly en-
compassed by four EC or DMC molecules relatively bigger than them, and travel
towards both electrodes. Here, the size of electrolyte molecules is about 1 to 2nm or
bigger. To improve the battery quality, therefore, it is important to take both the size of
a lithium ion and the size of an electrolyte molecule into consideration.
[19] The organic/inorganic composite porous separator (membrane) according to the
present invention consists of (a) a porous substrate; and (b) an organic/inorganic
composite layer formed on the substrate. As shown in FIGs. 2, 6 and 7, both the porous
substrate (a) and the organic/inorganic composite layer (b) have a number of regular
(or uniform) pore structures that are large enough for the electrolyte molecules and the
solvated lithium ions to pass through and at the same time, the inorganic particles (c)
contained in the organic/inorganic composite layer are structurally characterized with
macropores that are sufficiently large to be able to transmit the electrolyte molecules
and the solvated lithium ions. Such a triple porous structure means a high degree of
swelling of electrolytes as well as an increase in the pathway of Hthium ions in the
electrolyte-filled space, so the lithium ion conductivity may be improved and elec-
trochemical reactions in the battery are activated, demonstrating an equivalent
performance to the conventional polyolefin-based separator (see FIG. 1).
[20] In addition, although the organic/inorganic composite layer used as a component or
a coating component of the conventional separator could ensure safety of a battery, its use of non-porous inorganic particles which are heavy brought an increase in the total weight of the battery. On the other hand, the present invention used inorganic porous particles retaining a number of macropores therein, to thereby achieve improved safety and quality of a battery as well as a markedly reduced weight. This leads to a reduction
of the battery weight, eventually increasing energy density per unit weight of the
battery.
[21] In the organic/inorganic composite porous separator according to the present
invention, one component present in the organic/inorganic composite porous separator
coated onto the surface of a porous substrate and/or part of the pores in the substrate is
inorganic particles that are typically used in the art. Hence, there is no particular
limitation in selection of inorganic particles in terms of components and shapes, as
long as they are big enough to transmit electrolyte molecules and solvated lithium ions.
Nevertheless, it is preferable to use inorganic particles having macropores of 50nm or
greater in diameter.
[22] As aforementioned, a macropore is defined by IUPAC as a pore having a diameter
of 50nm or greater. The macropores may exist individually or combined in the particle.
[23] There is no particular limitation in porosity of the inorganic porous particles. The
porosity can be adjusted diversely within a range of 30 to 95%, preferably, 50 to 90%.
If porosity of the porous particle is below 30%, it is difficult to expect swelling of an
electrolyte to the pores existing in the porous particle and further the improvement of
battery performance. Meanwhile, if porosity of the porous particle exceeds 95%,
mechanical strength of the particle itself can be weakened. Such a pore structure within
the set range serves as an additional pathway of lithium ions and the space for
electrolyte to swell, contributing to the improvement of battery performance.
[24] Moreover, as surface area of the inorganic porous particle increases significantly
due to plural pores existing in the particle itself, the density is reduced. In the field,
inorganic particles with high density are not easily dispersed during a coating process
and cause a problem like an increase in the weight of a battery. Therefore, it is desired
to use inorganic particles with density as low as possible. For example, the density and
the surface area of the inorganic porous particle may fall within a range of 1 to 4g/cc
and a range of 10 to 50m2/g, respectively.
[25] Furthermore, the inorganic porous particle in the organic/inorganic composite layer
formed on the porous substrate serves to form pores with an interstitial volume formed
among inorganic particles as they bond to each other and at the same time, functions as
a spacer helping the organic/inorganic composite layer maintain its physical shape.
[26] There is no particular limitation in materials for the inorganic porous particles as
long as they are electrochemically stable and are not subjected to oxidation and/or
reduction at the range of drive voltages (for example, 0-5V based on Li/Li ) of a
battery to which they are applied. In particular, it is preferable to use inorganic
particles having ion conductivity as high as possible, because such inorganic particles
can improve ion conductivity and performance in an electrochemical device. Ad-
ditionally, inorganic particles having high dielectric constant are desirably used
because they can contribute to an increase in the dissociation degree of an electrolyte
salt in a liquid electrolyte, say, a lithium salt, to thereby improve the ion conductivity
of the electrolyte.
[27] For these reasons, it is desirable to use inorganic particles having a high dielectric
constant of 5 or more, inorganic particles having lithium conductivity or mixtures
thereof.
[28] Non-limiting examples of inorganic particles having a dielectric constant of 5 or
more include BaTiO , Pb(Zr,Ti)0 (PZT) Pb La Zr Ti O (PLZT) PB(Mg Nb )0 -
3 3 1-x x 1-y y 3 3 2/3 3
PbTiO (PMN-PT) hafnia (HfO ) SrTiO , SnO , CeO , MgO, NiO, CaO, ZnO, ZrO ,
3 2 3 2 2 2
Y O , Al O , TiO SiC or mixtures thereof.
2 3 2 3 2,
[29] As used herein, "inorganic particles having lithium ion conductivity" are referred to
as inorganic particles containing lithium elements and having a capability of
conducting lithium ions without storing lithium. Inorganic particles having lithium ion
conductivity can conduct and move lithium ions due to defects present in their
structure, and thus can improve lithium ion conductivity and contribute to the im-
provement of battery performance. Non-limiting examples of such inorganic particles
having lithium ion conductivity include: lithim phosphate (Ii PO ) lithium titanium
3 4
phosphate (Ii Ti (PO ) , 0