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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12537190-B2
Application number	US-202418638486-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2024
Priority date	Sep 29, 2009
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

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 method of manufacture, comprising:
a. heating porous carbon particles in a first non-oxidizing environment to at least a silane (SiH 4 ) gas decomposition temperature to produce heated porous carbon particles; b. flowing a silane (SiH 4 )-comprising gas to induce a deposition of Si nanoparticles on a surface of the heated porous carbon particles to produce Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles; c. heating the Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles in a second non-oxidizing environment to at least a hydrocarbon gas decomposition temperature to produce heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles; d. flowing a hydrocarbon-comprising gas to induce a hydrocarbon gas decomposition and a deposition of conductive carbon (C) on a surface of the heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles to produce Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles; and e. cooling the produced Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles to a temperature below 50° C.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area (SSA) of the porous carbon particles is at least 80 m 2 /g.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 70 cm 3 of nitrogen is capable of being adsorbed into pores of 1 g of the porous carbon particles.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the heating of the porous carbon particles heats the porous carbon particles to at least 500° C.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area (SSA) of the heated porous carbon particles is reduced after the deposition of the Si nanoparticles on the surface of the heated porous carbon particles.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a total pore volume of the heated porous carbon particles is reduced after the deposition of the Si nanoparticles on the surface of the heated porous carbon particles.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the silane (SiH 4 )-comprising gas comprises an inert gas.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the deposition of the Si nanoparticles on the surface of the heated porous carbon particles is performed in a tube furnace.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the tube furnace is a horizontal tube furnace.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the flowing of the silane (SiH 4 )-comprising gas is performed for at least one hour.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area (SSA) of the heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles is reduced after the deposition of the conductive carbon (C) on the surface of the heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the BET SSA of the heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles is reduced by at least 27%.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the BET SSA of the heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles is reduced to less than about 33 m 2 /g.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a total pore volume of the heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles is reduced after the deposition of the conductive carbon (C) on the surface of the heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles, as determined by one or more nitrogen sorption measurements.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the deposition of the conductive carbon (C) on the surface of the heated Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles is performed in a tube furnace.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the tube furnace is a horizontal tube furnace.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the flowing of the silane (SiH 4 )-comprising gas deposits from 15 wt. % to 90 wt. % of Si relative to a total weight of the Si nanoparticles-comprising composite particles.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some carbon in the produced Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles is produced by thermal decomposition of a polymer.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some carbon in the produced Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles is produced by thermal decomposition of a propylene gas.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon particles and/or the heated porous carbon particles comprise micropores.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon particles and/or the heated porous carbon particles comprise mesopores.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon particles and/or the heated porous carbon particles comprise macropores.

23 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon particles and/or the heated porous carbon particles comprise micropores and mesopores.

24 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon particles and/or the heated porous carbon particles comprise micropores, mesopores and macropores.

25 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the produced Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles comprise micropores.

26 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the produced Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles comprise mesopores.

27 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the produced Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles comprise macropores.

28 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the produced Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles comprise micropores and mesopores.

29 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the produced Si-comprising and C-comprising composite particles comprise micropores, mesopores and macropores.

Assignees

• Sila Nanotechnologies Inc
• Georgia Tech Res Inst
• Gerogia Tech Res Corporation

Inventors

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

Classifications

• Y10S977/773

  Nanoparticle, i.e. structure having three dimensions of 100 nm or less · CPC title

• Y02T10/70

  Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• 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