Conformal graphene cage encapsulated battery electrode materials and methods of forming thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10879526-B2
Application number	US-201615178366-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2016
Priority date	Jun 12, 2015
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

A conformal graphene-encapsulated battery electrode material is formed by: (1) coating a battery electrode material with a metal catalyst to form a metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material; (2) growing graphene on the metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material to form a graphene cage encapsulating the metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material; and (3) at least partially removing the metal catalyst to form a void inside the graphene cage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a conformal graphene-encapsulated material, comprising:
coating a battery electrode material with a metal catalyst to form a metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material, wherein coating the battery electrode material with the metal catalyst includes performing electroless deposition of the metal catalyst on the battery electrode material;
growing graphene on the metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material to form a graphene cage encapsulating the metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material; and
at least partially removing the metal catalyst to form a void inside the graphene cage.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal catalyst is nickel.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein growing the graphene includes exposing the metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material to a carbon-containing source, followed by performing carburization and annealing.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein annealing is performed at a temperature in the range of 200° C. to 600° C.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein exposing the metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material to the carbon-containing source includes disposing the metal catalyst-coated battery electrode material in a solution of the carbon-containing source.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing the metal catalyst is through the graphene cage.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing the metal catalyst is via an etchant.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the battery electrode material includes silicon.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the battery electrode material is provided as at least one particle having a dimension in the range of 200 nm to 10 μm.

Assignees

• Univ Leland Stanford Junior

Inventors

• Li Yuzhang
• Yan Kai
• Lu Zhenda
• Cui Yi

Classifications

• H01M4/0492

  Chemical attack of the support material · CPC title

• H01M4/049

  Manufacturing of an active layer by chemical means · CPC title

• H01M10/052

  Li-accumulators · CPC title

• H01M2004/021

  Physical characteristics, e.g. porosity, surface area · CPC title

• H01M4/134

  Electrodes based on metals, Si or alloys · CPC title