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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9673448-B2
Application number	US-201414513920-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2014
Priority date	Sep 29, 2009
Publication date	Jun 6, 2017
Grant date	Jun 6, 2017

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 porous composite comprising a plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites, wherein each of the nanocomposites comprises:
a dendritic particle comprising a three-dimensional, randomly-ordered assembly of nanoparticles of a non-carbon Group 4A element or mixture thereof; and
a coating of electrically conductive material deposited on a surface of the dendritic particle,
wherein each of the nanocomposites has at least a portion of the dendritic particle in electrical communication with at least a portion of a dendritic particle of an adjacent nanocomposite in the plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites.

2. The porous composite of claim 1 , further comprising a lithium-ion permeable layer disposed on at least a portion of a surface of the agglomerated nanocomposites, wherein the lithium-ion permeable layer forms a total pore volume within the porous composite that has a range of about 1.5 to about 10 times the volume occupied by the non-carbon Group 4A element in the porous composite.

3. The porous composite of claim 2 , wherein the lithium-ion permeable layer comprises carbon.

4. The porous composite of claim 2 , wherein the lithium-ion permeable layer comprises a polymer.

5. The porous composite of claim 2 , wherein the lithium-ion permeable layer is a composite comprising more than one layer of different materials.

6. The porous composite of claim 2 , further comprising additional pores formed in a space between the coating and the lithium-ion permeable layer.

7. The porous composite of claim 6 , wherein the additional pores are associated with a thermal decomposition of a polymer precursor.

8. The porous composite of claim 2 , further comprising lithium as an active material interspersed among the nanocomposites.

9. The porous composite of claim 2 , wherein at least a fraction of the total pore volume is formed such that it is inaccessible to electrolyte solvent during operation of a battery comprising the porous composite as part of a battery electrode.

10. The porous composite of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive material comprises carbon.

11. The porous composite of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive material comprises a polymer.

12. The porous composite of claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticles have an average longest dimension of about 5 nanometers to about 250 nanometers.

13. The porous composite of claim 1 , wherein the non-carbon Group 4A element or mixture thereof comprises about 15 weight percent to about 90 weight percent of the nanocomposite.

14. The porous composite of claim 1 , wherein the random-ordering of the assembly of nanoparticles is associated with a thermal decomposition of a gaseous precursor.

15. A porous composite comprising a plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites, wherein each of the nanocomposites comprises:
a plurality of dendritic particles, wherein the dendritic particles comprise a three-dimensional, randomly-ordered assembly of nanoparticles of carbon;
a plurality of discrete, non-porous nanoparticles of a non-carbon Group 4A element or mixture thereof disposed on an outer surface of the dendritic particle;
an electrically conductive material joining the nanocomposites together, wherein at least a portion of the nanocomposites are in electrical communication with each other through the electrically conductive material; and
a lithium-ion permeable layer disposed on at least a portion of a surface of the joined nanocomposites and forming a total pore volume within the porous composite that has a range of about 1.5 to about 20 times the volume occupied by all of the nanoparticles in the porous composite,
wherein a space between the electrically conductive material and the lithium-ion permeable layer contains additional pores.

16. The porous composite of claim 15 , wherein the additional pores are associated with a thermal decomposition of a polymer precursor.

17. A lithium-ion battery electrode, comprising:
a conductive metal substrate; and
a porous composite dispersed in a binder coupled to the conductive metal substrate, wherein the porous composite comprises:
a plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites, wherein each of the nanocomposites comprises one or more dendritic particles, wherein the dendritic particles comprise a three-dimensional, randomly-ordered assembly of nanoparticles of a non-carbon Group 4A element or mixture thereof;
an electrically conductive material joining the nanocomposites together, wherein at least a portion of the nanocomposites are in electrical communication with each other through the electrically conductive material; and
a lithium-ion permeable layer disposed on at least a portion of a surface of the joined nanocomposites and forming a total pore volume within the porous composite that has a range of about 1.5 to about 10 times the volume occupied by the non-carbon Group 4A element or mixture thereof in the porous composite.

18. The lithium-ion battery electrode of claim 17 , wherein at least a fraction of the total pore volume is formed such that it is inaccessible to electrolyte solvent during operation of a lithium-ion battery comprising the lithium-ion battery electrode.

Assignees

• Yushin Gleb
• Magazynskyy Oleksandr
• Dixon Patrick
• Hertzberg Benjamin
• Sila Nanotechnologies Inc
• Georgia Tech Res Inst

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H01B1/18

  the conductive material comprising carbon-silicon compounds, carbon or silicon · CPC title

• H01B1/24

  the conductive material comprising carbon-silicon compounds, carbon or silicon · CPC title

• H01M4/137

  Electrodes based on electro-active polymers · CPC title

• C01P2004/64

  Nanometer sized, i.e. from 1-100 nanometer · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

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