Non-aqueous electrolyte and lithium secondary battery including the same

This application is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/KR2014/008159, filed Sep. 1, 2014, which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0108578, filed Sep. 10, 2013, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention relates to a non-aqueous electrolyte and a lithium secondary battery including the same, and more particularly, to a non-aqueous electrolyte including at least one borate-based compound as an additive and a lithium secondary battery including the same.

In line with the realization of miniaturization and weight reduction in electronic devices and the generalization of the use of portable electronic devices, research into secondary batteries having high energy density, as power sources of such electronic devices, has been actively conducted.

The secondary batteries may include nickel-cadmium secondary batteries, nickel-metal hydride secondary batteries, nickel-hydrogen secondary batteries, and lithium secondary batteries, and in particular, among these batteries, research into lithium secondary batteries, which not only have a discharge voltage two or more times higher than a typical battery using an alkaline aqueous solution, but also have high energy density per unit weight and is capable of rapid charging, has emerged.

The lithium secondary battery is composed of a cathode formed of a lithium metal oxide, an anode formed of a carbon material or a lithium alloy, and an electrolyte formed of a lithium salt and an organic solvent.

In this case, since the organic solvent is easily volatized and has high flammability, short circuit and fire due to internal heat during overcharge and overdischarge may occur. Thus, high-temperature safety of the lithium secondary battery may be reduced.

Therefore, research into developing an electrolyte capable of improving cycle life and high-temperature lifespan of the battery has been variously attempted.

Technical Problem

The present invention provides a non-aqueous electrolyte including an additive which may improve room-temperature and high-temperature stability.

The present invention also provides a lithium secondary battery in which battery cycle characteristics and high-temperature storage stability are improved by including the non-aqueous electrolyte.

Technical Solution

According to an aspect of the present invention,

there is provided a non-aqueous electrolyte including: a non-aqueous organic solvent; a lithium salt; and a borate-based compound represented by Chemical Formula 1:

in Chemical Formula 1,

R 1 to R 4 are each independently a halogen or a halogen-substituted alkyl having 1 to 3 carbon atoms.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-aqueous electrolyte further including at least one borate-based compound selected from the group consisting of Chemical Formula 2 and Chemical Formula 3:

in Chemical Formula 3,

R 5 to R 12 are each independently hydrogen, an alkyl having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, a halogen, or a halogen-substituted alkyl having 1 to 3 carbon atoms.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lithium secondary battery including: a cathode; an anode; a separator disposed between the cathode and the anode; and the electrolyte of the present invention.

Advantageous Effects

According to the present invention, a lithium secondary battery having improved cycle characteristics and high-temperature storage stability may be prepared by including a non-aqueous electrolyte which includes at least one borate-based compound as an additive.

The following drawings attached to the specification illustrate preferred examples of the present invention by example, and serve to enable technical concepts of the present invention to be further understood together with detailed description of the invention given below, and therefore the present invention should not be interpreted only with matters in such drawings.

The FIGURE is a graph comparing the results of the measurement of high-temperature cycle characteristics of lithium secondary batteries prepared in Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail. It will be understood that words or terms used in the specification and claims shall not be interpreted as the meaning defined in commonly used dictionaries. It will be further understood that the words or terms should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the technical idea of the invention, based on the principle that an inventor may properly define the meaning of the words or terms to best explain the invention. Accordingly, since the embodiments set forth in the present specification and the configurations illustrated in the drawings are shown by way of example and do not represent all the technological spirit of the present invention, it should be understood that embodiments of the present invention are capable of various modifications, equivalents, and alternatives at the time of present application.

Specifically, the present invention provides a non-aqueous electrolyte including a non-aqueous organic solvent, a lithium salt, and a borate-based compound represented by Chemical Formula 1 below:

In Chemical Formula 1,

R 1 to R 4 are each independently a halogen or a halogen-substituted alkyl having 1 to 3 carbon atoms.

Specifically, R 1 to R 4 in Chemical Formula 1 may be a halogen, and, for example, the borate-based compound may be represented by Chemical Formula 1a below.

Also, the non-aqueous electrolyte according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include at least one borate-based compound selected from the group consisting of Chemical Formula 2 and Chemical Formula 3 in addition to the borate-based compound represented by Chemical Formula 1

In Chemical Formula 3,

R 5 to R 12 are each independently hydrogen, an alkyl having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, a halogen, or a halogen-substituted alkyl having 1 to 3 carbon atoms.

Specifically, the borate-based compound of Chemical Formula 3 may be represented by Chemical Formula 3a below.

The borate-based compound may be included in an amount of 0.1 wt % to 20 wt % based on a total weight of the non-aqueous electrolyte. In the case that the amount of borate-based compound is less than 0.1 wt %, an effect of forming a robust solid coating layer on an electrode may be insignificant, and in the case in which the amount of borate-based compound is greater than 20 wt %, a decomposition reaction of the borate-based compound itself may become severe.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the case that the borate-based compound of Chemical Formula 1 and the at least one borate-based compound selected from the group consisting of Chemical Formula 2 and Chemical Formula 3 are simultaneously included may be more desirable in terms of self-discharge than the case of using them alone.

The non-aqueous electrolyte according to the embodiment of the present invention is not particularly limited so long as the borate-based compound of Chemical Formula 1 and the at least one borate-based compound selected from the group consisting of Chemical Formula 2 and Chemical Formula 3 are included in an amount of 0.1 wt % to 20 wt % based on the total weight of the non-aqueous electrolyte. Specifically, the non-aqueous electrolyte according to the embodiment of the present invention may include the borate-based compound of Chemical Formula 1 and the borate-based compound selected from the group consisting of Chemical Formula 2 and Chemical Formula 3 in a mixing ratio (weight ratio) of 1:0.2 to 1:2.0, more specifically, 1:0.2 to 1:1.0.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the case that the borate-based compounds of Chemical Formula 1, Chemical Formula 2, and Chemical Formula 3 are all included, the non-aqueous electrolyte may include the borate-based compound of Chemical Formula 1, the borate-based compound of Chemical Formula 2, and the borate-based compound of Chemical Formula 3 in a weight ratio of 1:0.2:0.2 to 1:1.0:1.0

Typically, in order to improve cycle characteristics, there has been a case in which a non-aqueous electrolyte including boric acid tris-trimethylsilyl or boric acid tris-triethylsilyl as an additive, or a non-aqueous electrolyte including a chain carbonic acid ester and/or a chain carboxylic acid ester, tris(trimethylsilyl)borate, and an electrolyte salt is used. However, with respect to the non-aqueous electrolyte including the additives, since interfacial resistance increases to cause a swelling phenomenon of a cell during high-temperature storage, proper cycle characteristics and capacity retention ratio may be difficult to be obtained.

Thus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a robust solid electrolyte interface (SEI), which may effectively prevent the decomposition of the electrolyte at an electrode surface during a charging process for the formation of a battery or a high-temperature aging process, may be formed by providing the non-aqueous electrolyte including the borate-based compound represented by Chemical Formula 1 or the non-aqueous electrolyte further including the at least one borate-based compound selected from the group consisting of Chemical Formula 2 and Chemical Formula 3. Accordingly, since the interfacial resistance of the secondary battery may be reduced, improvements in battery cycle characteristics and high-temperature storage stability, in particular, an improvement in high voltage battery life may be obtained.

In the non-aqueous electrolyte according to the embodiment of the present invention, the non-aqueous organic solvent and the lithium salt may include any kinds of organic solvents and lithium salts which are usable in a non-aqueous electrolyte during the preparation of a typical lithium secondary battery. In this case, the amount thereof may be appropriately changed within a usable range.

Specifically, the non-aqueous organic solvent may include typical organic solvents, which may be used as a non-aqueous organic solvent of a lithium secondary battery, such as a cyclic carbonate solvent, a linear carbonate solvent, an ester solvent, or a ketone solvent. These materials may be used alone or in a mixture of two or more thereof.

The cyclic carbonate solvent may include one selected from the group consisting of ethylene carbonate (EC), propylene carbonate (PC), and butylene carbonate (BC), or a mixed solution of two or more thereof. The linear carbonate solvent may include one selected from the group consisting of dimethyl carbonate (DMC), diethyl carbonate (DEC), dipropyl carbonate (DPC), ethylmethyl carbonate (EMC), methylpropyl carbonate (MPC), and ethylpropyl carbonate (EPC), or a mixed solution of two or more thereof. Also, the ester solvent may include one selected from the group consisting of methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, methyl propionate, ethyl propionate, γ-butyrolactone, γ-valerolactone, and γ-caprolactone, or a mixed solution of two or more thereof. Furthermore, poly(methyl vinyl ketone) or the like may be used as the ketone solvent.

Also, in the non-aqueous electrolyte of the present invention, as the lithium salt, LiPF 6 , LiAsF 6 , LiCF 3 SO 3 , LiN(CF 3 SO 2 ) 2 , LiBF 4 , LiSbF 6 , LiN(C 2 F 5 SO 2 ) 2 , LiAlO 4 , LiAlCl 4 , LiCo 0.2 Ni 0.56 Mn 0.27 O 2 , LiCoO 2 , LiSO 3 CF 3 , and LiClO 4 may be used alone or in combination thereof. In addition, lithium salts, which are typically used in an electrolyte of a lithium secondary battery, may be used without limitations.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, provided is a lithium secondary battery including a cathode, an anode, a separator disposed between the cathode and the anode, and the non-aqueous electrolyte of the present invention.

In this case, the cathode is formed by including a cathode active material capable of intercalating and deintercalating lithium, and the anode is formed by including an anode active material capable of intercalating and deintercalating lithium.

As the cathode and anode active materials, any active materials may be used without limitation as long as these materials are used as cathode and anode active materials during the preparation of a lithium secondary battery. Typically, as the anode active material, a carbon-based anode active material, such as crystalline carbon, amorphous carbon, or a carbon composite, may be used alone or in a mixture thereof, and a manganese-based spinel active material or lithium metal oxide may be used as the cathode active material. Among the lithium metal oxides, cobalt or manganese-containing lithium-cobalt-based oxide, lithium-manganese-based oxide, lithium-nickel-manganese-based oxide, lithium-manganese-cobalt-based oxide, and lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt-based oxide may be used. Among these compounds, lithium-cobalt-based oxide, lithium-manganese-based oxide, and lithium-nickel-manganese-based oxide, for example, may be used.

Any of lithium ion battery, lithium-ion polymer battery, and lithium polymer battery may be prepared and used as the above lithium secondary battery.

In general, in an initial charging process of a secondary battery, an SEI affecting a battery reaction may be formed on a surface of an anode (graphite) while an electrolyte is decomposed before lithium ions deintercalated from a cathode intercalate into the anode (graphite). The coating layer may not only have properties that pass lithium ions and block the movement of electrons, but may also act as a protective coating layer that prevents the electrolyte from being continuously decomposed. Thus, when the coating layer is formed on the surface of the anode, the decomposition of the electrolyte due to the electron movement between the electrode and the electrolyte is suppressed, and selectively, only the intercalation and deintercalation of lithium ions may be possible. However, the formed SEI may not stably exist until the lifetime of the battery ends, but may be destructed due to the shrinkage and expansion caused by repeated charge and discharge cycles or may be destructed due to the heat and impact from the outside. Charges are additionally or irreversible consumed while the destructed SEI is restored by continuous charge and discharge process, and thus, reversible capacity may be continuously decreased. In particular, the interfacial resistance increases as the thickness of the solid coating layer formed due to the decomposition of the electrolyte increases, and thus, the battery performance may degrade.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, since the non-aqueous electrolyte including at least one borate-based compound is used, a solid coating layer, which has high ionic conductivity and low electronic conductivity, resists the shrinkage and expansion of the electrode, and has excellent thermal stability, may be formed on the surface of the electrode. Accordingly, since an expansion phenomenon of the battery during high-temperature storage as well as transition metal dissolution may be prevented, a secondary battery having improved high-temperature cycle characteristics may be prepared. In addition, the additive may improve the battery performance by preventing the transition metal dissolution which occurs in the cathode.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail, according to specific examples. The invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these example embodiments are provided so that this description will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art.