Active material, anode layer, battery, and methods for producing these

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12586782-B2
Application number	US-202217939412-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2022
Priority date	Sep 17, 2021
Publication date	Mar 24, 2026
Grant date	Mar 24, 2026

Abstract

A main object of the present disclosure is to provide an active material wherein a volume variation due to charge/discharge is small. The present disclosure achieves the object by providing an active material comprising a silicon clathrate II type crystal phase, including a void inside a primary particle, and a void amount A of the void with a fine pore diameter of 100 nm or less is more than 0.15 cc/g and 0.40 cc/g or less.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An active material comprising:
a primary particle comprising a silicon clathrate II type crystal phase; and a void inside the primary particle,
wherein:
a void amount A of the void with a fine pore diameter of 100 nm or less is more than 0.15 cc/g and 0.40 cc/g or less, and
the active material is produced by a method comprising:
an alloying step of obtaining a Na—Si alloy by reacting a Na source and a Si source; and
a silicon clathrate forming step of forming the silicon clathrate II type crystal phase by heating the Na—Si alloy so as to reduce a Na amount in the Na—Si alloy,

wherein:
in the silicon clathrate forming step, a scavenger that captures Na in the Na—Si alloy is used, and
a particle wherein a void amount C of a void with a fine pore diameter of 50 nm or less is 0.05 cc/g or more and 0.20 cc/g or less, is used as the Si source.

2 . An active material comprising a silicon clathrate II type crystal phase,
a primary particle comprising a silicon clathrate II type crystal phase; and a void inside the primary particle,
wherein:
a void amount B of the void with a fine pore diameter of 50 nm or less is more than 0.10 cc/g and 0.25 cc/g or less, and
the active material is produced by a method comprising:
an alloying step of obtaining a Na—Si alloy by reacting a Na source and a Si source; and
a silicon clathrate forming step of forming the silicon clathrate II type crystal phase by heating the Na—Si alloy so as to reduce a Na amount in the Na—Si alloy,

wherein:
in the silicon clathrate forming step, a scavenger that captures Na in the Na—Si alloy is used, and
a particle wherein a void amount C of a void with a fine pore diameter of 50 nm or less is 0.05 cc/g or more and 0.20 cc/g or less, is used as the Si source.

3 . The active material according to claim 2 , wherein a void amount A of the void with a fine pore diameter of 100 nm or less is 0.05 cc/g or more and 0.40 cc/g or less.

4 . The active material according to claim 1 , wherein, as peaks of the silicon clathrate II type crystal phase, peak “A” at a position of 2θ=20.09°+0.50° and peak “B” at a position of 2θ=31.72°+0.50° are observed in X-ray diffraction measurement using a CuKα ray, and
when an intensity of the peak “A” is regarded as I A , an intensity of the peak “B” is regarded as I B , and a maximum intensity in 2θ=22° to 23° is regarded as I M , I A /I M is 1.75 or more and 2.00 or less, and I B /I M is 1.35 or more and 1.75 or less.

5 . An anode layer comprising the active material according to claim 1 .

6 . A battery comprising a cathode layer, an anode layer, and an electrolyte layer placed between the cathode layer and the anode layer, and
the anode layer is the anode layer according to claim 5 .

7 . A method for producing the active material according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
an alloying step of obtaining a Na—Si alloy by reacting a Na source and a Si source; and a silicon clathrate forming step of forming a silicon clathrate II type crystal phase by heating the Na—Si alloy so as to reduce a Na amount in the Na—Si alloy,
wherein:
in the silicon clathrate forming step, a scavenger that captures Na in the Na—Si alloy is used, and
a particle wherein a void amount C of a void with a fine pore diameter of 50 nm or less is 0.05 cc/g or more and 0.20 cc/g or less, is used as the Si source.

8 . A method for producing an anode layer, the method comprising:
an active material producing step of producing an active material by the method for producing an active material according to claim 7 , and an anode layer forming step of forming an anode layer using the active material.

9 . The method for producing an anode layer according to claim 8 , wherein the anode layer forming step includes a press treatment of pressing the anode layer in a thickness direction, and
by the press treatment, a void amount D of the void with a fine pore diameter of 50 nm or less in the active material is adjusted to be 0.035 cc/g or more and 0.11 cc/g or less.

10 . The method for producing an anode layer according to claim 9 , wherein, by the press treatment, a void amount E of the void with a fine pore diameter of 100 nm or less in the active material is adjusted to be 0.053 cc/g or more and 0.16 cc/g or less.

11 . A method for producing a battery, the method comprising:
an active material producing step of producing an active material by the method for producing an active material according to claim 7 , and an anode layer forming step of forming an anode layer using the active material.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Otaki Mitsutoshi
• Yoshida Jun
• Harata Masanori
• Yamaguchi Yasuhiro
• Urabe Kota
• Eguchi Tatsuya

Classifications

• H01M2004/021

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

• C01P2002/74

  by peak-intensities or a ratio thereof only · CPC title

• C01P2002/72

  by d-values or two theta-values, e.g. as X-ray diagram · CPC title

• C01P2006/14

  Pore volume · CPC title

• C01P2006/16

  Pore diameter · CPC title