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

摘要

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.

主权项

1. 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 silicon disposed on the 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; anda lithium ion permeable layer disposed on at least a portion of the 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.