Process for prelithiating an anode active material for a lithium battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10673063-B2
Application number	US-201715710952-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2017
Priority date	Sep 21, 2017
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

Provided is a process for producing prelithiated particles of an anode active material for a lithium battery. The process comprises: (a) providing a lithiating chamber having at least one inlet and at least one outlet; (b) feeding a plurality of particles of an anode active material, lithium metal particles, and an electrolyte solution (containing a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent) into the lithiating chamber through at least one inlet, concurrently or sequentially, to form a reacting mixture; (c) moving this reacting mixture toward the outlet at a rate sufficient for inserting a desired amount of lithium into the anode active material particles to form a slurry of prelithiated particles dispersed in the electrolyte solution; and (d) discharging the slurry out of the lithiating chamber through the at least one outlet.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for producing prelithiated particles of an anode active material for a lithium battery, said process comprising:
a) providing a lithiating chamber having at least one inlet and at least one outlet;
b) feeding a plurality of particles of an anode active material, lithium metal particles, and an electrolyte solution containing a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent, concurrently or sequentially, into said lithiating chamber through said at least one inlet to form a reacting mixture;
c) moving said reacting mixture toward said at least one outlet at a rate sufficient for inserting a desired amount of lithium into said anode active material particles to form a slurry of prelithiated particles dispersed in said electrolyte solution; and
d) discharging said slurry out of said lithiating chamber through said at least one outlet;
wherein said process further comprises feeding a solution of a lithium salt or sodium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent into said lithiating chamber, before said slurry is discharged, to form a multi-component slurry, which is discharged from said lithiating chamber and introduced into an encapsulating device that encapsulates said prelithiated particles with a surface-stabilizing layer of lithium- or sodium-containing species.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said prelithiated particles contains an amount of lithium from 1% to 100% of a maximum lithium content contained in said anode active material.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein said slurry is discharged into a receptor container.

4. The process of claim 1 , further comprising a step of treating said discharged slurry for separating and recovering said prelithiated particles from said electrolyte solution.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein said lithiating chamber contains one or two rotating screws that drive the reacting mixture toward said at least one outlet.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein said step (b) of feeding, step (c) of moving, and step (d) of discharging are conducted in a continuous manner.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein said particles of anode active material are selected from the group consisting of: (a) silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), zinc (Zn), aluminum (Al), titanium (Ti), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and cadmium (Cd); (b) alloys or intermetallic compounds of Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Zn, Al, Ti, Ni, Co, or Cd with other elements; (c) oxides, carbides, nitrides, sulfides, phosphides, selenides, and tellurides of Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Zn, Al, Ti, Fe, Ni, Co, V, or Cd, and their mixtures, composites, or lithium-containing composites; (d) salts and hydroxides of Sn; (e) lithium titanate, lithium manganate, lithium aluminate, lithium-containing titanium oxide, lithium transition metal oxide, ZnCo 2 O 4 ; (f) particles of graphite and carbon; and (g) combinations thereof.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein said anode active material comprises silicon and said prelithiated particles are selected from Li x Si, wherein numerical x is from 0.01 to 4.4.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein said anode active material comprises silicon and said prelithiated particles comprise a prelithiated silicon Li x Si, wherein numerical x is from 0.05 to 4.4.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein said anode active material comprises a doped semiconductor material selected from Si or Ge doped with n-type and/or p-type dopants.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein said anode active material particles are coated with a thin layer of carbon, graphene, electron-conducting polymer, or ion-conducting polymer having a thickness from 0.5 nm to 1 μm.

12. The process of claim 11 , wherein said thin layer of carbon is obtained from pyrolization of a polymer, pitch, or organic precursor or obtained by chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, or sputtering.

13. The process of claim 1 , wherein said anode active material particles are in a form of nanoparticle, nanowire, nanofiber, nanotube, nanosheet, nanobelt, nanoribbon, nanodisc, nanoplatelet, or nanohorn having a thickness or diameter from 0.5 nm to 100 nm.

14. The process of claim 1 , wherein said anode active material particles contain a sub-micron or micron particle having a diameter or thickness from 100 nm to 30 μm.

15. A process for producing prelithiated particles of an anode active material for a lithium battery, said process comprising:
a) providing a lithiating chamber having at least one inlet and at least one outlet;
b) feeding a plurality of particles of an anode active material, lithium metal particles, and an electrolyte solution containing a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent, concurrently or sequentially, into said lithiating chamber through said at least one inlet to form a reacting mixture;
c) moving said reacting mixture toward said at least one outlet at a rate sufficient for inserting a desired amount of lithium into said anode active material particles to form a slurry of prelithiated particles dispersed in said electrolyte solution;
d) feeding a solution of a lithium salt or sodium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent into said lithiating chamber to form a multi-component slurry; and
e) said slurry is discharged from said lithiating chamber through at least one outlet and introduced into an encapsulating device that encapsulates said prelithiated particles with a surface-stabilizing layer of lithium- or sodium-containing species.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein said encapsulating device is selected from a spray dryer, a pan-coating device, an air-suspension coating device, a centrifugal extrusion device, or a vibration nozzle.

17. The process of claim 15 , wherein said surface-stabilizing layer comprises a lithium- or sodium-containing species chemically bonded to said particles and said lithium- or sodium-containing species is selected from Li 2 CO 3 , Li 2 O, Li 2 C 2 O 4 , LiOH, LiX, ROCO 2 Li, HCOLi, ROLi, (ROCO 2 Li) 2 , (CH 2 OCO 2 Li) 2 , Li 2 S, Li x SO y , Li 4 B, Na 4 B, Na 2 CO 3 , Na 2 O, Na 2 C 2 O 4 , NaOH, NaX, ROCO 2 Na, HCONa, RONa, (ROCO 2 Na) 2 , (CH 2 OCO 2 Na) 2 , Na 2 S, Na x SO y , or a combination thereof, wherein X═F, Cl, I, or Br, R=a hydrocarbon group, 0<x≤1, and 1≤y≤4.

18. A process for producing prelithiated particles of an anode active material for a lithium battery, said process comprising:
e) providing a lithiating chamber having at least one inlet and at least one outlet;
f) feeding a plurality of particles of an anode active material, lithium metal particles, and an electrolyte solution containing a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid solvent, concurrently or sequentially, into said lithiating chamber through said at least one inlet to form a reacting mixture;
g) moving said reacting mixture toward said at least one outlet at a rate sufficient for inserting a desired amount of lithium into said anode active material particles to form a slurry of prelithiated particles dispersed in said electrolyte solution; and
h) discharging said slurry out of said lithiating chamber through said at least one outlet;
wherein said process further comprises feeding a solution of a polymer or monomer into said lithiating chamber to form a multi-component slurry, which is discharged from said lithiating chamber and introduced into an encapsulating device that encapsulates said prelithiated particles with a protective polymer layer.

19. The process of claim 18 , wherein said encapsulating device is selected from a spray dryer, a pan-coating devic

Assignees

• Nanotek Instruments Inc
• Global Graphene Group Inc

Inventors

• Zhamu Aruna
• Jang Bor Z

Classifications

• C01G51/42

  containing alkali metals, e.g. LiCoO2 · CPC title

• C01G51/04

  Oxides · CPC title

• H01M4/622

  being polymers · CPC title

• H01M4/366

  as layered products · CPC title

• H01M4/131

  Electrodes based on mixed oxides or hydroxides, or on mixtures of oxides or hydroxides, e.g. LiCoOx · CPC title