{
  "patent_number": "US 4009052",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "Early Lithium-Ion Battery Design Using Chalcogenides",
  "original_title": "Chalcogenide battery",
  "summary": "This 1977 patent describes an early rechargeable battery design using lithium as one electrode and titanium disulfide as the other, a key step towards modern lithium-ion technology.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent details a rechargeable battery system. It specifies an anode made from reactive metals like lithium, and a cathode made from a layered material called a chalcogenide, specifically titanium disulfide (TiS2) in one preferred embodiment. The key is that the titanium disulfide has a structure that allows ions (like lithium ions) from the anode to easily insert themselves into the chalcogenide's layers, and then be released back to the anode during charging. An electrolyte, which doesn't react with either electrode, facilitates this ion movement. Claim 10 provides a concrete example: lithium anode, titanium disulfide cathode, and a lithium perchlorate electrolyte in a mix of tetrahydrofuran and dimethoxyethane.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Batteries using anodes made of metals not listed in Group Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, or IVa.",
    "Batteries using cathode materials other than layered chalcogenides of the formula MZx (where M is Ti, Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, V and Z is S, Se, Te, with x between 1.8-2.05) or alloys thereof.",
    "Batteries where the electrolyte chemically reacts with either the anode or the cathode.",
    "Batteries that do not allow for the intercalation of anode ions into the cathode structure.",
    "Batteries using solid-state electrolytes if the electrolyte is not specifically claimed as solid in claims 22 or 24."
  ],
  "filed": "1976-04-05",
  "granted": "1977-02-22",
  "expires": "1996-04-05",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Exxon Research and Engineering Co",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/exxon-research-and-engineering-co",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "M. Stanley Whittingham",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/m-stanley-whittingham"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 93,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "semiconductors",
    "energy",
    "materials",
    "chemical"
  ],
  "abstract": "A battery is provided in which the anode contains as the anode-active material a metal selected from the group consisting of Group Ia metals, Group Ib metals, Group IIa metals, Group IIb metals, Group IIIa metals and Group IVa metals (lithium is preferred), the cathode contains as the cathode-active material a chalcogenide of the formula MZx wherein M is an element selected from the group consisting of titanium, zirconium, hafnium, niobium, tantalum and vanadium (titanium is preferred); Z is an element selected from the group consisting of sulfur, selenium and tellurium, and x is a numerical value between about 1.8 and about 2.1, and the electrolyte is one which does not chemically react with the anode or the cathode and which will permit the migration of ions from said anode-active material to intercalate the cathode-active material. A highly useful battery may be prepared utilizing lithium as the anode-active material, titanium disulfide as the cathode-active material and lithium perchlorate dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (70%) plus dimethoxyethane (30%) solvent as the electrolyte.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/4009052/rechargeable-lithium-battery",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/4009052/rechargeable-lithium-battery/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US4009052",
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}