REINFORCEMENT FOR ELECTRICAL INTERCONNECT SYSTEMS OF ELECTROCHEMICAL BATTERIES AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS THEREFOR

A secondary battery assembly includes an electrode assembly having mutually perpendicular transverse, longitudinal, and vertical axes corresponding to the X, Y and Z axes, respectively, of a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. The electrode assembly defines a population of faces, each face defined by two of the transverse, longitudinal, and vertical axes. The secondary battery assembly also includes a population of first current collector tabs electrically coupled to a first bus bar extending along a first face of the electrode assembly, the first face extending in at least one of a Z-X plane defined by the Z and X axes or a Z-Y plane defined by the Z and Y axes. The second battery assembly also includes a reinforcement structure disposed over at least a portion of the first current collector tabs, the first current collector tabs extending along the first face. The reinforcement structure includes a polymer.