Abstract: Provided is a rechargeable alkali metal-sulfur cell comprising an anode layer, an electrolyte and a porous separator, a cathode layer, and a discrete anode-protecting layer disposed between the anode layer and the separator and/or a discrete cathode-protecting layer disposed between the separator and the cathode active material layer; wherein the anode-protecting layer or cathode-protecting layer comprises a conductive sulfonated elastomer composite having from 0.01% to 40% by weight of a conductive reinforcement material and from 0.01% to 40% by weight of an electrochemically stable inorganic filler dispersed in a sulfonated elastomeric matrix material and the protective layer has a thickness from 1 nm to 50 ?m, a fully recoverable tensile strain from 2% to 500%, a lithium ion conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm, and an electrical conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 100 S/cm.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of improving the cycle-life of a rechargeable alkali metal-sulfur cell. The method comprises implementing an anode-protecting layer between an anode active material layer and a porous separator/electrolyte, and/or implementing a cathode-protecting layer between a cathode active material and the porous separator/electrolyte, wherein the anode-protecting layer or cathode-protecting layer comprises a conductive sulfonated elastomer composite having from 0.01% to 40% by weight of a conductive reinforcement material and from 0.01% to 40% by weight of an electrochemically stable inorganic filler dispersed in a sulfonated elastomeric matrix material and the protecting layer has a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m, a fully recoverable tensile strain from 2% to 500%, a lithium ion conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm, and an electrical conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 100 S/cm when measured at room temperature.

Abstract: Disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention are a data synchronization method, apparatus, storage medium and electronic device. The data synchronization method comprises: determining a data type corresponding to target data to be synchronized; determining whether the data type corresponding to the target data is a preset data type; if not, adding the target data to a data buffer area; and synchronizing the target data in the data buffer area to a cloud server after a preset period of time.

Abstract: Provided is a rope-shaped alkali metal battery comprising: (a) a first electrode comprising a first conductive porous rod having pores and a first mixture of a first electrode active material and a first electrolyte residing in the pores of the first porous rod; (b) a porous separator wrapping around or encasing the first electrode to form a separator-protected first electrode; (c) a second electrode comprising a second conductive porous rod having pores and a second mixture of a second electrode active material and a second electrolyte residing in the pores of the second porous rod; wherein the separator-protected first electrode and second electrode are combined to form a braid or a yarn having a twist or spiral electrode; and (d) a protective casing or sheath wrapping around or encasing the braid or yarn.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of improving the anode stability and cycle-life of a lithium metal secondary battery. The method comprises implementing two anode-protecting layers between an anode active material layer and an electrolyte or electrolyte/separator assembly. These two layers comprise (a) a first anode-protecting layer having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m (preferably <1 ?m and more preferably <100 nm) and comprising a lithium ion-conducting material having a lithium ion conductivity from 10?8 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm; and (b) a second anode-protecting layer having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m and comprising an elastomer having a fully recoverable tensile elastic strain from 2% to 1,000% (preferably >10% more preferably >100%) and a lithium ion conductivity from 10?8 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of improving the cycle-life of a lithium metal secondary battery. The method comprises implementing an anode-protecting layer between an anode active material layer and a porous separator/electrolyte, wherein the anode-protecting layer or cathode-protecting layer comprises a conductive sulfonated elastomer composite having from 0.01% to 40% by weight of a conductive reinforcement material and from 0.01% to 40% by weight of an electrochemically stable inorganic filler dispersed in a sulfonated elastomeric matrix material and the protecting layer has a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m, a fully recoverable tensile strain from 2% to 500%, a lithium ion conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm, and an electrical conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 100 S/cm when measured at room temperature.

Abstract: Provided is a lithium secondary battery, comprising a cathode, an anode, and a porous separator or electrolyte, wherein the anode comprises: (a) an anode active layer containing a layer of lithium or lithium alloy, in a form of a foil, coating, or multiple particles aggregated together, as an anode active material; (b) a first anode-protecting layer having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m, a specific surface area greater than 50 m2/g and comprising a thin layer of electron-conducting material selected from graphene sheets, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon or graphite fibers, expanded graphite flakes, metal nanowires, conductive polymer fibers, or a combination thereof, and (c) a second anode-protecting layer having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m and comprising an elastomer having a fully recoverable tensile elastic strain from 2% to 1,000% and a lithium ion conductivity from 10?8 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of improving the anode stability and cycle-life of a lithium metal secondary battery. The method comprises implementing two anode-protecting layers between an anode active material layer and an electrolyte/separator assembly. These two layers comprise (a) a first anode-protecting layer having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m, a specific surface area greater than 50 m2/g and comprising a thin layer of electron-conducting material selected from graphene sheets, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon or graphite fibers, expanded graphite flakes, metal nanowires, conductive polymer fibers, or a combination thereof; and (b) a second anode-protecting layer having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m and comprising an elastomer having a fully recoverable tensile elastic strain from 2% to 1,000% (preferably >10%) and a lithium ion conductivity from 10?8 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm.

Abstract: Provided is a lithium secondary battery, comprising a cathode, an anode, and a porous separator or electrolyte, wherein the anode comprises: (a) an anode active layer containing a layer of lithium or lithium alloy, in a form of a foil, coating, or multiple particles aggregated together, as an anode active material; (b) a first anode-protecting layer having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m (preferably <1 ?m and more preferably <100 nm) and comprising a lithium ion-conducting material having a lithium ion conductivity from 108 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm; and (c) a second anode-protecting layer having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m and comprising an elastomer having a fully recoverable tensile elastic strain from 2% to 1,000% and a lithium ion conductivity from 108 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm.

Abstract: Provided is a lithium-selenium battery, comprising a cathode, an anode, and a porous separator/electrolyte assembly, wherein the anode comprises an anode active layer containing lithium or lithium alloy as an anode active material, and the cathode comprises a cathode active layer comprising a selenium-containing material, wherein an anode-protecting layer is disposed between the anode active layer and the separator/electrolyte and/or a cathode-protecting layer is disposed between the cathode active layer and the separator/electrolyte; the protecting layer comprising from 0.01% to 40% by weight of a conductive reinforcement material and from 0.01% to 40% by weight of an electrochemically stable inorganic filler dispersed in a sulfonated elastomeric matrix material and having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m, a fully recoverable tensile strain from 2% to 500%, a lithium ion conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm, and an electrical conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 100 S/cm.

Abstract: Provided is a lithium secondary battery, comprising a cathode, an anode, and a porous separator or electrolyte, wherein the anode comprises: (a) an anode active layer containing a layer of lithium or lithium alloy, in a form of a foil, coating, or multiple particles aggregated together, as an anode active material; and (b) an anode-protecting layer of a conductive sulfonated elastomer composite, disposed between the anode active layer and the separator/electrolyte; wherein the composite has from 0.01% to 40% by weight of a conductive reinforcement material and from 0.01% to 40% by weight of an inorganic filler dispersed in a sulfonated elastomeric matrix material and the protecting layer has a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m, a fully recoverable tensile strain from 2% to 500%, a lithium ion conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm, and an electrical conductivity from 10?7 S/cm to 100 S/cm.

Abstract: Provided is a rechargeable alkali metal-sulfur cell comprising: (a) an anode; (b) a cathode active material layer comprising a sulfur-containing material; and (c) an electrolyte or an electrolyte/separator layer; wherein the anode comprises (i) an anode active material layer; (ii) a first anode-protecting layer, in physical contact with the anode active material layer, having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m and comprising a thin layer of an electron-conducting material having a specific surface area greater than 50 m2/g; and (iii) a second anode-protecting layer in physical contact with the first anode-protecting layer, having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m and comprising an elastomer having a fully recoverable tensile elastic strain from 2% to 1,000% and a lithium ion conductivity from 10?8 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm when measure at room temperature.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of improving the anode stability and cycle-life of an alkali metal-sulfur. The method comprises implementing two anode-protecting layers between an anode active material layer and an electrolyte or electrolyte/separator assembly. These two layers comprise (a) a first anode-protecting layer, in physical contact with the anode active material layer, having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m and comprising a thin layer of an electron-conducting material having a specific surface area greater than 50 m2/g; and (b) a second anode-protecting layer in physical contact with the first anode-protecting layer, having a thickness from 1 nm to 100 ?m and comprising an elastomer having a fully recoverable tensile elastic strain from 2% to 1,000% and a lithium ion conductivity from 10?8 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm when measure at room temperature.

Abstract: Provided is method of improving fast-chargeability of a lithium secondary battery, wherein the method comprises disposing a lithium ion reservoir between an anode and a porous separator and configured to receive lithium ions from the cathode through the porous separator when the battery is charged and to enable the lithium ions to enter the anode in a time-delayed manner. In some embodiments, the reservoir comprises a conducting porous framework structure having pores and lithium-capturing groups residing in the pores, wherein the lithium-capturing groups are selected from (a) redox forming species that reversibly form a redox pair with a lithium ion; (b) electron-donating groups interspaced between non-electron-donating groups; (c) anions and cations wherein the anions are more mobile than the cations; or (d) chemical reducing groups that partially reduce lithium ions from Li+1 to Li+?, wherein 0<?<1.

Abstract: Provided is a lithium secondary battery containing an anode, a cathode, a porous separator disposed between the anode and the cathode, an electrolyte, and a lithium ion reservoir disposed between the anode and the porous separator and configured to receive lithium ions from the cathode when the battery is charged and enable the lithium ions to enter the anode in a time-delayed manner, wherein the reservoir comprises a conducting porous framework structure having pores (pore size from 1 nm to 500 ?m) and lithium-capturing groups residing in the pores, wherein the lithium-capturing groups are selected from (a) redox forming species that reversibly form a redox pair with a lithium ion; (b) electron-donating groups interspaced between non-electron-donating groups; (c) anions and cations wherein the anions are more mobile than the cations; or (d) chemical reducing groups that partially reduce lithium ions from Li+1 to Li+?, wherein 0<?<1.

Abstract: A method of improving fire resistance of a lithium battery, the method comprising disposing a heat-resistant spacer layer between a porous separator and a cathode layer or anode layer, wherein the heat-resistant spacer layer contains a distribution of particles of a thermally stable material having a heat-induced degradation temperature or melting point higher than 400° C. (up to 3,500° C.) and wherein the heat-resistant spacer layer acts to space apart the anode and the cathode when the porous separator of the battery fails. Such a heat-resistant spacer layer prevents massive internal shorting from occurring when the porous separator gets melted, contracted, or collapsed under extreme temperature conditions induced by, for instance, dendrite or nail penetration.

Abstract: Provided is a lithium secondary battery containing an anode, a cathode, a porous separator/electrolyte element disposed between the anode and the cathode, and a cathode-protecting layer bonded or adhered to the cathode, wherein the cathode-protecting layer comprises a lithium ion-conducting polymer matrix or binder and inorganic material particles that are dispersed in or chemically bonded by the polymer matrix or binder and wherein the cathode-protecting layer has a thickness from 10 nm to 100 ?m and the polymer matrix or binder has a lithium-ion conductivity from 10?8 S/cm to 5×10?2 S/cm. Additionally or alternatively, there can be a similarly configured anode-protecting layer adhered to the anode. Such an electrode-protecting layer prevents massive internal shorting from occurring even when the porous separator gets melted, contracted, or collapsed under extreme temperature conditions induced by, for instance, dendrite or nail penetration.

Abstract: Disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention are a data synchronization method, apparatus, storage medium and electronic device. The data synchronization method comprises: determining a data type corresponding to target data to be synchronized; determining whether the data type corresponding to the target data is a preset data type; if not, adding the target data to a data buffer area; and synchronizing the target data in the data buffer area to a cloud server after a preset period of time.

Abstract: One embodiment of the invention is an alkali metal-selenium battery comprising an anode, a selenium cathode, an electrolyte, an electronically insulating porous separator, and an electronically conducting graphene separator layer comprising a solid graphene foam, paper or fabric that is permeable to lithium ions or sodium ions but is substantially non-permeable to selenium or metal selenide, wherein the graphene separator layer is disposed between the selenium cathode layer and the electronically insulating porous separator layer and the graphene separator layer contains pristine graphene sheets or non-pristine graphene sheets having 0.01% to 20% by weight of non-carbon elements, wherein the non-pristine graphene is selected from graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, boron-doped graphene, nitrogen-doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof.

Abstract: One embodiment of the invention is method of inhibiting the shuttle effect by preventing migration of selenium or metal selenide ions from a cathode to an anode of an alkali metal-selenium battery, the method comprising: (a) combining an anode active material layer, a cathode active material layer, an electrically insulating porous separator disposed between the anode active material layer and the cathode active material layer, and electrolyte to form an alkali metal-selenium battery cell, and (b) implementing a porous trapping layer, having a thickness from 5 nm to 100 ?m, between the cathode active material layer and the electrically insulating porous separator to trap selenium or metal selenide ions that are dissolved in the electrolyte from the cathode active material layer. Such a method enables the formation of an alkali metal-selenium battery exhibiting a long cycle life.