Electrochemically-active composite particles for lithium-ion batteries and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024413303-A1
Application number	US-202318398875-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 28, 2023
Priority date	Dec 29, 2022
Publication date	Dec 12, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

An aspect is directed to a battery electrode composition that includes a population of composite particles, in which each of the composite particles includes silicon and carbon. The population may be characterized by a particle size distribution (PSD) as determined by laser particle size distribution analysis (LPSA). In some embodiments, a tenth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 10 ) of the PSD between about 0.8 μm to about 5.8 μm, a fiftieth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 50 ) of the PSD between about 2.0 μm to about 9.0 μm, a ninetieth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 90 ) of the PSD is at least about 3.2 μm, a left width (D 50 -D 10 ) of the PSD is at least about 1.0 μm, and a right width (D 90 -D 50 ) of the PSD is at least about 1.8 μm. Another aspect is directed to mixtures of composite particle populations with different particle sizes.

First claim

1 . A battery electrode composition, comprising:
a population of composite particles, each of the composite particles comprising silicon and carbon; wherein: the population is characterized by a mass fraction of the silicon in the composite particles in a range of about 35 wt. % to about 70 wt. %; the population is characterized by a particle size distribution (PSD) as determined by laser particle size distribution analysis (LPSA) such that; a tenth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 10 ) of the PSD is in a range of about 0.8 μm to about 5.8 μm; a fiftieth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 50 ) of the PSD is in a range of about 2.0 μm to about 9.0 μm; a ninetieth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 90 ) of the PSD is at least about 3.2 μm; a left width (D 50 −D 10 ) of the PSD is at least about 1.0 μm; and a right width (D 90 −D 50 ) of the PSD is at least about 1.8 μm.

2 . The battery electrode composition of claim 1 , wherein:
the D 10 is in a range of about 0.8 μm to about 4.8 μm.

3 . The battery electrode composition of claim 2 , wherein:
the D 10 is in a range of about 0.8 μm to about 4.5 μm.

4 . The battery electrode composition of claim 1 , wherein:
the D 50 is in a range of about 2.7 μm to about 7.7 μm.

5 . The battery electrode composition of claim 4 , wherein:
the D 50 is in a range of about 2.7 μm to about 7.3 μm.

6 . The battery electrode composition of claim 1 , wherein:
the D 90 is at least about 5.0 μm.

7 . The battery electrode composition of claim 6 , wherein:
the D 90 is at least about 8.0 μm.

8 . The battery electrode composition of claim 1 , wherein:
the left width (D 50 −D 10 ) is at least about 1.5 μm.

9 . The battery electrode composition of claim 8 , wherein:
the left width (D 50 −D 10 ) is at least about 3.3 μm.

10 . The battery electrode composition of claim 1 , wherein:
the right width (D 90 −D 50 ) is at least about 3.8 μm.

11 . The battery electrode composition of claim 10 , wherein:
the right width (D 90 −D 50 ) is at least about 4.4 μm.

12 . The battery electrode composition of claim 1 , wherein:
the mass fraction of the silicon is in a range of about 40 wt. % to about 55 wt. %.

13 . The battery electrode composition of claim 1 , wherein:
a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area of the composite particles is in a range of about 1.5 m 2 /g to about 14.0 m 2 /g.

14 . The battery electrode composition of claim 13 , wherein:
the BET specific surface area is in a range of about 2.3 m 2 /g to about 8.0 m 2 /g.

15 . The battery electrode composition of claim 1 , wherein the composite particles are spheroidal.

16 . A battery electrode, comprising:
the battery electrode composition of claim 1 disposed on and/or in a current collector, wherein: the battery electrode comprises a binder.

17 . The battery electrode of claim 16 , further comprising:
a carbon-comprising functional additive.

18 . The battery electrode of claim 17 , wherein the carbon-comprising functional additive is selected from: carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon black, graphite, exfoliated graphite, graphene oxide, and graphene.

19 . The battery electrode of claim 18 , wherein a mass fraction of the carbon-comprising functional additive is about 1.0 wt. % or less of a mass of the battery electrode.

20 . The battery electrode of claim 19 , wherein the mass fraction of the carbon-comprising functional additive is about 0.2 wt. % or less.

21 . A lithium-ion battery, comprising:
an anode current collector; a cathode current collector; the battery electrode of claim 16 configured as an anode, the current collector thereof being configured as the anode current collector; a cathode disposed on or in the cathode current collector; and an electrolyte ionically coupling the anode and the cathode.

22 . The lithium-ion battery of claim 21 , wherein the composite particles contribute 100% of a capacity of the anode.

23 . A method of making a lithium-ion battery, the method comprising:
(E1) providing the battery electrode of claim 16 , the battery electrode being configured as an anode and the current collector being configured as an anode current collector; (E2) providing or making a cathode disposed on or in a cathode current collector; and (E3) assembling a battery cell from the anode and the cathode and filling a space between the anode and the cathode with an electrolyte ionically coupling the anode and the cathode to form the lithium-ion battery.

24 . A method of making a battery electrode, the method comprising:
(C1) providing the battery electrode composition of claim 1 ; and (C2) casting a slurry comprising the battery electrode composition on or in a current collector to form the battery electrode, wherein the slurry comprises a binder.

25 . A method of making a lithium-ion battery, the method comprising:
(D1) making the battery electrode according to the method of claim 24 , the battery electrode being configured as an anode and the current collector being configured as an anode current collector; (D2) providing or making a cathode disposed on or in a cathode current collector; and (D3) assembling a battery cell from the anode and the cathode and filling a space between the anode and the cathode with an electrolyte ionically coupling the anode and the cathode to form the lithium-ion battery.

26 . A method of making a battery electrode composition, comprising:
(A1) providing a first population of first composite particles, each of the first composite particles comprising silicon and carbon; (A2) providing a second population of second composite particles, each of the second composite particles comprising silicon and carbon; and (A3) mixing at least the first population and the second population in accordance with a population mass fraction, the population mass fraction being defined as a mass of the first population divided by a sum of the mass of the first population and a mass of the second population, to form the battery electrode composition, wherein: the first population is characterized by a first particle size distribution (PSD L ) as determined by laser particle size distribution analysis (LPSA); the second population is characterized by a second particle size distribution (PSD S ) as determined by the LPSA; a fiftieth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 50 L ) of the PSD L is in a range of about 6.0 μm to about 10.0 μm; a fiftieth-percentile volume-weighted particle size parameter (D 50 S ) of the PSD S is related to the D 50 L by a size ratio α defined as

D

5
⁢
0

L

D

5
⁢
0

S

,

 the size ratio α being in a range of about 3.0 to about 6.0; and
the population mass fraction is in a range of about 0.40 to about 0.95.

27 . The method of claim

Assignees

• Sila Nanotechnologies Inc

Inventors

• Sanchez Joel
• Kajdos Adam Paul
• Lachman Eric John
• Yushin Gleb Nikolayevich

Classifications

• H01M4/134

  Electrodes based on metals, Si or alloys · CPC title

• H01M4/364 Primary

  as mixtures · CPC title

• H01M2004/028

  Positive electrodes · CPC title

• H01M4/0404

  by coating on electrode collectors · CPC title

• H01M2004/027

  Negative electrodes · CPC title