Plastic Proton Battery Can Be Charged and Recharged 100,000 Times, Will Compete with Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

A rechargeable plastic battery based on the movement of hydrogen protons will be able to compete with lithium ion batteries say Taiwanese scientists. 

In U.S. Patent Application 20100062333, Silver H-Plus Technology Co., Ltd (Fongyuan City, TW) inventors Chen-Chun Chuang,  Ching-Yun Hsu and Li-Hsiang Perng describe plastics electrode material  that includes a mixture with a nitrogen-containing conductive polymer and a conductive carbon material mixed with the polymer.   The plastics electrode material contains conductive polymers that have fast charging and discharging properties and a high capacity. 

The polymer is polyquinoline, polyphenylquinoxaline, polycarbazole, polypyridine, polypyrrole, polyaniline or polyindole. The conductive nanocarbon material is 1% to 40% by weight of the mixture. The mixture is activated by a 0.2 M to 5 M proton-containing acidic electrolytic solution.  The secondary battery cells use the plastics electrode material. Because the conductive carbon material and high concentration acidic electrolytic solution are added to the polymer, the plastics electrode material has a high conductivity. Thus, the secondary cells have a high efficiency of charging and discharging and a long cyclic life.

The organic acidic electrolytic solution comprises methyl propyl carbonate, ethyl carbonate, mono-ammonium phosphate, lithium perchlorate, di-methyl formamide (DMF) and tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate (TEATFB). The electrolytic solution of the secondary cell further comprises nano inorganic particles which contain nano titanium dioxide, nano silicon dioxide or nano fullerene particles.

The proton (hydrogen ion) secondary cell containing conductive polymers is a new type product to compete with rechargeable lithium batteries. Because a proton has a smaller ion radius and faster ion speed, proton secondary cell has advantages of high working voltage, stable discharge curve, small self-discharge, long cyclic life and no pollution. Additionally, proton secondary cell can be totally made of polymers and provides a function of high current (10 amp for one cell) charging and discharging. Proton secondary cell can be applied to portable batteries (2 Ah), thin film batteries (200 .mu.Ah), small-sized batteries (200 mAh) and large-sized batteries (50 Ah). 

The proton battery has good properties including high and stable working voltage, small IR resistance, low voltage drop, high capacity, cycling life and stability.   The battery uses conductive polymers such as polyindole as anode and cathode materials under acidic conditions to proton secondary cell may have the advantages as follows: (1) the cell can be formed integrally on metallic foil, porous metallic substrate or conductive carbon substrate; (2) the cell has no memory effect and have a large number of charging and discharging cycles more than 100,000 times; (3) the cell can be manufactured with conventional processes; and (4) proton is a carrier for charging and discharging the cell. 

Simplified Flow Chart for Forming Rechargeable Plastic Proton Battery