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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024282934-A1
Application number	US-202418638486-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 17, 2024
Priority date	Sep 29, 2009
Publication date	Aug 22, 2024
Grant date	—

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 the 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 about 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 about 80 m 2 /g.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least about 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 about 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 about 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) nanoparticles 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 about 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) nanoparticles 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) nanoparticles 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 about 15 wt. % to about 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

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H01M4/602

  Polymers · CPC title

• H01M4/137

  Electrodes based on electro-active polymers · CPC title

• H01M4/133

  Electrodes based on carbonaceous material, e.g. graphite-intercalation compounds or CFx · CPC title

• Y10S977/773

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

• H01M4/625

  Carbon or graphite · CPC title