Electrodes, lithium-ion batteries, and methods of making and using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11515528-B2
Application number	US-202217692030-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2022
Priority date	Sep 29, 2009
Publication date	Nov 29, 2022
Grant date	Nov 29, 2022

Abstract

Described herein are improved composite anodes and lithium-ion batteries made therefrom. Further described are methods of making and using the improved anodes and batteries. In general, the anodes include a porous composite having a plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites. At least one of the plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites is formed from a dendritic particle, which is a three-dimensional, randomly-ordered assembly of nanoparticles of an electrically conducting material and a plurality of discrete non-porous nanoparticles of a non-carbon Group 4A element or mixture thereof disposed on a surface of the dendritic particle. At least one nanocomposite of the plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites has at least a portion of its dendritic particle in electrical communication with at least a portion of a dendritic particle of an adjacent nanocomposite in the plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A composite particle, comprising:
an electrically-conductive matrix having a three-dimensional structure comprising pores; and
a plurality of silicon nanoparticles at least partially disposed within the electrically-conductive matrix,
wherein:
a content of silicon in the composite particle is in a range of 15 wt. % to 90 wt. %;
the pores comprise pores with widths in a range of 1 nm to 100 nm; and
the pores define a pore volume that is different from a volume that is occupied by the plurality of silicon nanoparticles.

2. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of silicon nanoparticles comprise silicon, one or more oxides of silicon, or a combination thereof.

3. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the electrically-conductive matrix comprises carbon.

4. The composite particle of claim 3 , wherein the electrically-conductive matrix comprises amorphous carbon or graphitic carbon.

5. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of silicon nanoparticles are formed by decomposition of a silane or a chlorosilane at an elevated temperature.

6. The composite particle of claim 5 , wherein the silane or the chlorosilane comprises SiH 4 .

7. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of silicon nanoparticles are nonporous.

8. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of silicon nanoparticles are spherical.

9. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of silicon nanoparticles are doped with one or more elements selected from the group: nitrogen (N), boron (B), phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N), aluminum (Al) and lithium (Li).

10. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein:
the composite particle is at least partially coated with a Li-ion permeable material to inhibit access of electrolyte solvent to the plurality of silicon nanoparticles disposed within the electrically-conductive matrix.

11. The composite particle of claim 10 , wherein:
the Li-ion permeable material encases an outer surface of the composite particle.

12. The composite particle of claim 10 , wherein:
the Li-ion permeable material comprises carbon.

13. The composite particle of claim 12 , wherein:
the carbon comprises chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-deposited carbon.

14. The composite particle of claim 13 , wherein:
the CVD-deposited carbon is formed by decomposition of a hydrocarbon precursor.

15. The composite particle of claim 14 , wherein:
the hydrocarbon precursor comprises propylene (C 3 H 6 ).

16. The composite particle of claim 10 , wherein:
the Li-ion permeable material comprises a metal oxide.

17. The composite particle of claim 16 , wherein:
the metal oxide comprises one or more metals selected from: aluminum (Al), titanium (Ti), chromium (Cr), tantalum (Ta) and niobium (Nb).

18. The composite particle of claim 10 , wherein:
the Li-ion permeable material comprises a polymer.

19. The composite particle of claim 18 , wherein:
the polymer comprises one or more of the following:
sulfonated polystyrene, sulfonated inorganic-organic hybrid polymers, phosphonates, polyphenylene, poly(ether ketone), polysaccharides, poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(ethylene oxide).

20. The composite particle of claim 10 , wherein:
the Li-ion permeable material comprises two or more layers with distinct compositions and/or properties.

21. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the composite particle has a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area that is less than or equal to 24 m 2 /g.

22. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein a total pore volume of the composite particle is less than 20 times the volume occupied by the plurality of silicon nanoparticles.

23. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the composite particle is spherical.

24. The composite particle of claim 1 , wherein:
the composite particle exhibits a reversible lithiation capacity in a range from 870 mAh/g to 1950 mAh/g after 20 or more cycles during Li-ion battery operation.

25. A battery electrode composition, comprising:
a plurality of composite particles that each correspond to the composite particle of claim 1 ;
an electrically conductive additive; and
a polymeric binder.

26. The battery electrode composition of claim 25 , wherein:
the polymeric binder comprises an acrylic polymer.

27. The battery electrode composition of claim 26 , wherein the acrylic polymer comprises a polyacrylic acid.

28. The battery electrode composition of claim 25 , wherein:
the electrically conductive additive comprises carbon.

29. The battery electrode composition of claim 28 , wherein:
the carbon comprises carbon black.

30. A Li-ion battery, comprising:
a current collector comprising Cu;
an anode formed on the current collector and comprising the battery electrode composition of claim 25 ;
a cathode; and
an electrolyte interposed between the anode and the cathode, wherein the electrolyte comprises LiPF 6 salt and a solvent composition comprising vinylene carbonate (VC).

Assignees

• Sila Nanotechnologies Inc
• Georgia Tech Res Inst

Inventors

• Yushin Gleb
• Magazynskyy Oleksandr
• Dixon Patrick
• Hertzberg Benjamin

Classifications

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title

• H01M4/387

  Tin or alloys based on tin · CPC title

• H01B1/18

  the conductive material comprising carbon-silicon compounds, carbon or silicon · CPC title

• H01M4/1395

  of electrodes based on metals, Si or alloys · CPC title

• C01P2004/64

  Nanometer sized, i.e. from 1-100 nanometer · CPC title