Lithium-ion batteries with high-performance anodes comprising graphite(s) and silicon-based nanocomposites

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024266501-A1
Application number	US-202418434744-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 6, 2024
Priority date	Feb 7, 2023
Publication date	Aug 8, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A battery anode includes a binder, a conductive additive, and an active material blend including silicon (Si)-comprising active material particles and graphite active material particles. In some embodiments, the battery anode has a reversible capacity loading in a range of about 2 mAh/cm 2 to about 16 mAh/cm 2 , the silicon (Si)-comprising active material particles exhibit a specific capacity in a range of about 800 mAh/g to about 3000 mAh/g, and the silicon (Si)-comprising active material particles contribute from about 25% to about 99% of a total capacity of the battery anode.

First claim

1 . A battery anode, comprising:
a binder; a conductive additive; and an active material blend comprising silicon (Si)-comprising active material particles and graphite active material particles, wherein: the battery anode has a reversible capacity loading in a range of about 2 mAh/cm 2 to about 16 mAh/cm 2 ; the Si-comprising active material particles exhibit a specific capacity in a range of about 800 mAh/g to about 3000 mAh/g; the Si-comprising active material particles contribute from about 25% to about 99% of a total capacity of the battery anode; and at least a subset of the graphite active material particles is characterized by a Raman spectrum in which a full-width half-maximum (FWHM) of a D band is in a range of about 30 cm −1 to about 90 cm 1 , a FWHM of a G band is in a range from about 5 cm −1 to about 105 cm 1 , a FWHM of a 2D 1 band is in a range from about 30 cm −1 to about 110 cm −1 , and a D/G peak intensity ratio, defined as an intensity of a D peak divided by an intensity of a G peak, is in a range from about 0.02 to about 1.12.

2 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein the D/G peak intensity ratio is in a range from about 0.12 to about 0.30.

3 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
a 2D 1 /G peak intensity ratio, defined as an intensity of a 2D 1 peak of the Raman spectrum divided by the intensity of the G peak, is in a range from about 0.10 to about 0.90.

4 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles is characterized by an X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum in which a FWHM of a (002) reflection peak is within a range from about 0.220 degrees to about 5.620 degrees.

5 . The battery anode of claim 4 , wherein the FWHM of the (002) reflection peak is within a range from about 0.220 degrees to about 0.620 degrees.

6 . The battery anode of claim 4 , wherein:
an average crystallite size of the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles as estimated by applying the Scherrer formula to the (002) reflection peak is in a range of about 1 nm to about 40 nm.

7 . The battery anode of claim 6 , wherein the average crystallite size is within a range of about 15 nm to about 30 nm.

8 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
an average pressure (Cx) required to deform the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles by 10% during a micro-compression hardness test ranges from about 1 MPa to about 30 MPa.

9 . The battery anode of claim 8 , wherein:
the average pressure ranges from about 1 MPa to about 18 MPa.

10 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
a tap density of the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles ranges from about 0.10 g/cc to about 1.25 g/cc.

11 . The battery anode of claim 10 , wherein:
the tap density ranges from about 0.90 g/cc to about 1.10 g/cc.

12 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
a pycnometry density of the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles ranges from about 2.15 g/cc to about 2.35 g/cc.

13 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
a fiftieth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 50 ) of the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles ranges from about 2 m to about 22 m.

14 . The battery anode of claim 13 , wherein:
the D 50 ranges from about 12 m to about 17 m.

15 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
a ninetieth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 90 ) of the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles ranges from about 4 m to about 30 m.

16 . The battery anode of claim 15 , wherein:
the D 90 ranges from about 19 μm to about 26 m.

17 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
a tenth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 10 ) of the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles ranges from about 0.5 m to about 15 m.

18 . The battery anode of claim 17 , wherein:
the D 10 ranges from about 7 m to about 11 m.

19 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area (SSA) of the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles ranges from about 0.450 m 2 /g to about 450 m 2 /g.

20 . The battery anode of claim 19 , wherein:
the BET-SSA ranges from about 1 m 2 /g to about 5 m 2 /g.

21 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
a weight fraction of the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles in the battery anode is in a range of about 1 wt. % to about 50 wt. % of the active material blend.

22 . The battery anode of claim 21 , wherein:
the weight fraction is in a range of about 2 wt. % to about 20 wt. % of the active material blend.

23 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
the Si-comprising active material particles comprise oxygen (O) atoms at about 5 wt. % or less of a total mass of the Si-comprising active material particles.

24 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
the Si-comprising active material particles comprise silicon (Si) atoms and carbon (C) atoms, in aggregate, in a range of 80 wt. % to about 100 wt. % of a total mass of the Si-comprising active material particles.

25 . The battery anode of claim 24 , wherein:
the Si-comprising active material particles comprise Si—C nanocomposite particles.

26 . The battery anode of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles exhibits a specific capacity in a range of about 320 mAh/g to about 372 mAh/g.

27 . A lithium-ion battery, comprising:
the battery anode of claim 1 ; a cathode; a separator electrically separating the battery anode and the cathode; and an electrolyte ionically coupling the battery anode and the cathode.

28 . A battery anode, comprising:
a binder; a conductive additive; and an active material blend comprising silicon (Si)-comprising active material particles and graphite active material particles, wherein: a mass fraction of the Si in the Si-comprising active material particles is in a range of about 20 wt. % to about 80 wt. %; a mass ratio of the Si-comprising active material particles to the graphite active material particles is in a range of about 60:40 to about 98:2; at least a subset of the graphite active material particles is characterized by a Raman spectrum in which a full-width half-maximum (FWHM) of a D band is in a range of about 30 cm −1 to about 90 cm −1 , a FWHM of a G band is in a range from about 5 cm −1 to about 105 cm −1 , a FWHM of a 2D 1 band is in a range from about 30 cm −1 to about 110 cm −1 , and a D/G peak intensity ratio, defined as an intensity of a D peak divided by an intensity of a G peak, is in a range from about 0.02 to about 1.12; and an average pressure (Cx) required to deform the at least the subset of the graphite active material particles by 10% during a micro-compression hardness test ranges from about 1 MPa to about 18 MPa.

29 . The battery anode of claim 28 , wherein:
the mass ratio of the Si-comprising active material particles to the graphite active material particles is in a range of about 75:25 to about 95:5.

30 . The battery anode of claim 28 , wherein:
the average pressure ranges from about 7 MPa to about 18 MPa.

31 . The battery a

Assignees

• Sila Nanotechnologies Inc

Inventors

• Yushin Gleb Nikolayevich
• Rodríguez Pérez Ismael
• Jhulki Samik
• Kajdos Adam Paul
• Lulevich Valentin
• Clark Matthew O'Reilly
• Raghunathan Aditya
• Tannaci John Frederick

Classifications

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• H01M2004/021

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

• H01M2004/027

  Negative electrodes · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

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

• H01M4/622

  being polymers · CPC title