Intermetallic M—Sn5 (M=Fe, Cu, Co, Ni) compound and a method of synthesis thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9755229-B2
Application number	US-201214125535-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2012
Priority date	Jun 14, 2011
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

Novel intermetallic materials are provided that are composed of tin and one or more additional metal(s) having a formula M (1-x) -Sn 5 , where −0.1≦x≦0.5, with 0.01≦x≦0.4 being more preferred and the second metallic element (M) is selected from iron (Fe), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), and a combination of two or more of those metals. Due to low concentration of the second metallic element, the intermetallic compound affords an enhanced capacity applicable for electrochemical cells and may serve as an intermediate phase between Sn and MSn 2 . A method of synthesizing these intermetallic materials is also disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An intermetallic material comprising:
a tin (Sn)-based intermetallic compound having a formula (1)
M (1-x) -Sn 5 ,  (1)

wherein a second metallic element (M) is selected from the group consisting of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni) and x ranges between about −0.1 and about 0.5, and wherein the tin (Sn)-based intermetallic material is a single crystal having a tetragonal lattice in the P4/mcc space group and is a nanosphere with a diameter of about 10 nm to about 500 nm, as measured across a shortest cross-section of the nanosphere.

2. The intermetallic material of claim 1 , wherein x ranges between about 0.01 and about 0.4.

3. The intermetallic material of claim 1 , wherein the lattice parameters of the crystal are a=b=6.91369 Å, c=5.88967 Å, and α=β=γ=90°.

4. The intermetallic material of claim 1 , wherein the lattice parameters of the crystal are a=b=6.90567 Å, c=5.85077 Å, and α=β=γ=90°.

5. The intermetallic material of claim 1 , wherein the tin (Sn)-based intermetallic compound is a canted antiferromagnet.

6. The intermetallic material of claim 1 , further comprising alkali metals, transition metals, non-metals, or halogens.

7. The intermetallic material of claim 1 , further comprising a core made from the tin (Sn)-based intermetallic compound having a formula (1) and a shell made from an amorphous structure of M-Sn—O surrounding the core.

8. An intermetallic material comprising:
a tin (Sn)-based intermetallic compound having a formula
Fe 0.74 Sn 5 or Co 0.63 Sn 5 .

9. An intermetallic material comprising:
a tin (Sn)-based intermetallic compound having a formula
Fe 0.74 Sn 5 .

Assignees

• WANG Xiao-liang
• Han Weiqiang
• Brookhaven Science Ass Llc

Inventors

• WANG Xiao-liang
• Han Weiqiang

Classifications

• H01M4/387 Primary

  Tin or alloys based on tin · CPC title

• H01M4/621

  Binders · CPC title

• C22C13/00

  Alloys based on tin · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

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

• C22B25/04

  by wet processes · CPC title