Carbon structure including an electrically conductive material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12424615-B2
Application number	US-202217699027-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2022
Priority date	Dec 22, 2017
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

A composition of matter suitable for usage as a formative material for a lithium-sulfur battery cathode is provided. The composition of matter may include a carbon structure formed by multiple carbon particles interconnected to one another. Each carbon particle may include pores and exposed surfaces. In this way, an electrically conductive material (ECM) (e.g., silver and/or antimony) may be deposited in the pores and coated (e.g., conformally coated) on the exposed surfaces of respective carbon particles. In addition, at least some carbon particles may disintegrate and provide exposed surfaces prior to deposition of the ECM. For example, disintegrated carbon particles may have a greater surface-area-to-volume ratio than whole carbon particles, thereby providing an increased amount of surface area available for subsequent ECM deposition. In addition, in some aspects, an active material may be infiltrated in one or more carbon particles and pores.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A composition of matter including a carbon structure comprising:
a plurality of carbon particles including whole carbon particles and disintegrated carbon particles, wherein the disintegrated carbon particles are characterized by one or more of jagged edges or irregular shape and are defined by a surface area-to-volume ratio that is greater than a surface area-to volume ratio of the whole carbon particles, and wherein each of the whole carbon particles and disintegrated carbon particles include a plurality of pores and a plurality of exposed surfaces; and
an electrically conductive material (ECM) deposited in at least some of the plurality of pores and coated on at least some exposed surfaces associated with the whole carbon particles and the disintegrated carbon particles, wherein at least some of the whole carbon particles are disintegrated to form at least some of the disintegrated carbon particles prior to deposition of the ECM.

2. The composition of matter of claim 1 , further comprising an active material infiltrated in one or more of the plurality of carbon particles or the plurality of pores.

3. The composition of matter of claim 2 , wherein the active material includes any one or more of hydrogen, sulfur, sulfur compounds, a nitrogen-containing species, silicon, silicon compounds, boron, bromine, and platinum, nickel, silver, molybdenum, or iron.

4. The composition of matter of claim 2 , wherein the composition of matter has a mass fraction of the active material relative to a total mass of the carbon structure that is greater than 20%.

5. The composition of matter of claim 2 , wherein the active material is deposited throughout one or more of the plurality of carbon particles or the plurality of pores by one or more conformal deposition techniques.

6. The composition of matter of claim 5 , wherein the one or more conformal deposition techniques includes at least one of chemical bath deposition, sol-gel deposition, particle printing, sputtering, evaporation, chemical vapor deposition, or atomic layer deposition (ALD).

7. The composition of matter of claim 2 , wherein one or more of the plurality of carbon particles, the ECM, or the active material is configured to melt-diffuse and intermix with one another.

8. The composition of matter of claim 2 , wherein the at least some exposed surfaces are functionalized with the active material.

9. The composition of matter of claim 1 , wherein the carbon structure is formed as a porous media including one or more of carbon allotropes, silicon, silicon oxide, silica, diatomaceous earth, or silicon carbide.

10. The composition of matter of claim 9 , wherein the porous media includes one or more inorganic materials configured to withstand a processing temperature greater than 500° C.

11. The composition of matter of claim 9 , wherein the porous media is formed with multi-modal pore size distributions.

12. The composition of matter of claim 9 , wherein the porous media is treated with one or more of chemical etches, plasma etches, mechanical size reduction, or combinations of chemical and mechanical processes.

13. The composition of matter of claim 12 , wherein the combinations of chemical and mechanical processes include one or more of ball milling, grinding, attrition milling, micro-fluidizing, or jet milling.

14. The composition of matter of claim 1 , wherein the ECM is conformally coated on the at least some exposed surfaces.

15. The composition of matter of claim 1 , wherein the carbon structure is formed without usage of one or more binders.

16. The composition of matter of claim 1 , further comprising a carrier fluid formed by mixing at least some of the plurality of carbon particles with the ECM.

17. The composition of matter of claim 16 , wherein the carrier fluid is configured to weld the ECM with at least some of the plurality of carbon particles.

18. The composition of matter of claim 16 , wherein the carrier fluid includes one or more of hydrocarbon gases, carbon dioxide with water, trimethylaluminum (TMA), trimethylgallium (TMG), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), methylacetylene-propadiene, propadiene, propane, propyne, or acetylene.

19. The composition of matter of claim 1 , wherein the ECM includes one or more of silver or antimony.

20. The composition of matter of claim 1 , wherein the carbon structure is decorated with one or more additional particles including silicon, carbon, aluminum, ceramics, iron, nickel, manganese, metal oxides, metal carbides including silicon carbide (SiC), metal silicides, metal borides, or metal nitrides.

21. The composition of matter of claim 1 , further comprising a polymer joining at least some of the plurality of carbon particles to one another.

22. The composition of matter of claim 1 , wherein the carbon structure has a specific surface area (SSA) greater than 50 m 2 /g.

Assignees

• Lyten Inc

Inventors

• Stowell Michael W
• Anzelmo Bryce H
• Tanner David
• Lanning Bruce
• Cruz Joe Griffith

Classifications

• B82Y30/00

  Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites · CPC title

• C01B32/182

  Graphene · CPC title

• H01M2004/021

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

• H01M4/625

  Carbon or graphite · CPC title

• H01M4/38

  of elements or alloys · CPC title