The electrolytes in thermal batteries are nonconductive solids at ambient temperature, which prevent the self-discharge and corrosion. To meet severe environmental requirements and guarantee acceptable handling yields, all the pellets in cells should have adequate strength, especially for the cathodes due to their poor binding properties among FeS2 particles. By modifying the surface microstructure of FeS2 through molten-salt heat treatment, the inter-particle binding strength is greatly increased, resulting in the enhanced pellet strength and yield. The addition of Li2O also promoted the soft salt coating coverage of hard FeS2 particles, which can be explained by the enhanced wettability of the molten salt.

Keywords: Thermal batteries, FeS2, Li2O, Molten-salt electrolyte