NOVELTY - A battery (10) comprises an anode (12) and cathode (14); a separator (16) between the anode and cathode; and a shutdown layer (20) between the separator and the anode or cathode, including a wax material and a conductive material within the wax material forming a conductive network within the shutdown layer. At wax material melting point temperature, the conductive network is reduced such that at least a portion of the shutdown layer is electrically non-conductive.    USE - As rechargeable battery (claimed) useful in e.g. battery electric vehicles (BEV), hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).    ADVANTAGE - In the battery, the shutdown layer is able to disconnect effectively the short circuit and limit or eliminate self-discharge of the battery, but leave the remaining portions of the battery unaffected and still operational. Automatic shutdown separators comprise a low melting point material that melts to prevent the transport of ionic current in the vicinity of the short circuit, which does not address an internal short itself, and allows the transport of ionic current to continue in unaffected portions of the battery. Thus overall ionic current is virtually unaffected and self-discharge continues via the short circuit. Self-discharge can only be completely stopped once the entire shutdown separator has melted to completely stop ionic current transport, and external fuse does not prevent self-discharge, since they do not operate within the cell. The shutdown layer has a thickness that is large enough to provide sufficient low melting point (LMP) material to disconnect short circuit, but small enough to avoid negatively impacting ionic transport of the electrolyte. The shutdown layer includes only the LMP material and the conductive material (e.g. a wax and conductive particles), therefore does not require additional materials or components to disconnect short circuits or prevent thermal runaway, thus reducing the number of components which reduces complexity and simplify the production and coating process.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is/are included for forming a shutdown layer for a rechargeable battery involving preparing a mixture of wax material and conductive particles; coating the mixture on battery electrode; and drying the mixture to obtain a dried mixture including conductive network within the wax material to obtain a shutdown layer in which at melting point temperature of the wax material the conductive network is reduced such that at least a portion of the shutdown layer is substantially electrically non-conductive. The melting point temperature of the wax material and the shutdown layer is electrically conductive. The conductive material includes conductive particles.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows schematic cross section of the battery.    Battery (10)    Anode (12)    Cathode (14)    Separator (16)    Electrolyte (18)    Shutdown layer (20)