PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOLID LITHIUM-ALUMINUM ALLOY ELECTRODES

Lithium--aluminum alloy electrodes have shown a great deal of promise for meeting the performance requirements of negative electrodes in batteries for off-peak energy storage in utility networks and for vehicle propulsion. To develop negative electrodes that meet the cell performance goals, the effects of a number of variables on the lithium--aluminum electrode performance were determined. Investigations were conducted to determine the effects of volume fraction electrolyte in the electrode, electrode thickness, fabrication technique, lithium concentration in the Li--Al alloy, and current collector in the electrode. Electrochemically formed Li--Al electrodes that are 0.32 cm thick, have an electrolyte volume fraction of 0.2 in the charged state, and contain about 2 percent stainless steel wire current collector demonstrated the performance goals for the negative electrodes in a Li--Al/FeS/sub 2/ electric automobile battery. For electrode thicknesses greater than or equal to 0.64 cm, vibratorily loaded pyrometallurgical Li--Al electrodes with porous metallic current collectors demonstrated the highest lithium utilization and capacity density over a wide range of discharge current densities and met the performance goals for negative electrodes in a Li--Al/FeS/sub 2/ off-peak energy storage battery. (8 figures, 3 tables)