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US-12626924-B2 - Biomass-derived carbon

US12626924B2US 12626924 B2US12626924 B2US 12626924B2US-12626924-B2

Abstract

An embodiment is directed to an electrode composition for use in an energy storage device cell. The electrode comprises composite particles, each comprising carbon that is biomass-derived and active material. The active material exhibits partial vapor pressure below around 10 −13 torr at around 400 K, and an areal capacity loading of the electrode composition ranges from around 2 mAh/cm 2 to around 16 mAh/cm 2 .

Inventors

  • Gleb Yushin
  • Adam Kajdos

Assignees

  • SILA NANOTECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20240611

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A carbon-comprising composite particle for use in Li-ion anodes comprising: (i) porous carbon derived from fruit, (ii) conversion or alloying-type active material infiltrated into one or more pores of the porous carbon, wherein the conversion or alloying-type active material comprises from about 40 wt. % to about 85 wt. % of the carbon-comprising composite particle.
  2. 2 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon comprises from about 90% to about 100% of sp 2 -bonded carbon atoms.
  3. 3 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon exhibits electrical conductivity in a range from about 1 S/m to about 10 6 S/m.
  4. 4 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the carbon-comprising composite particle exhibits an average characteristic dimension in a range from around 300 nm to around 30 microns.
  5. 5 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 4 , wherein the carbon-comprising composite particle exhibits the average characteristics dimension in a range from around 0.5 micron to around 10 microns.
  6. 6 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein, without the conversion or alloying-type active material, the porous carbon exhibits: an average Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area (SSA) in a range from about 400 m 2 /g to about 5,000 m 2 /g, and an open pore volume in a range from around 0.4 cm 3 /g to around 6 cm 3 /g, as determined by N 2 sorption measurements.
  7. 7 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 6 , wherein the open pore volume is in a range from around 0.75 cm 3 /g to around 2.5 cm 3 /g, as determined by N 2 sorption measurements.
  8. 8 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon exhibits a compositional purity of more than about 90 wt. %.
  9. 9 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 8 , wherein the compositional purity is more than about 96 wt. %.
  10. 10 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon comprises less than about 2 wt. % of hydrogen atoms.
  11. 11 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon comprises an ash content of less than about 4 wt. %.
  12. 12 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 11 , wherein the ash content is less than about 1 wt. %.
  13. 13 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon comprises activated carbon.
  14. 14 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the conversion or alloying-type active material comprises alloying-type active material nanoparticles that comprise a non-carbon group IV element with an atomic number of 14.
  15. 15 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 14 , wherein the alloying-type active material nanoparticles are infiltrated into the one or more pores via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
  16. 16 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 14 , wherein an average size of the alloying-type active material nanoparticles ranges from about 2 nm to about 30 nm.
  17. 17 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the carbon-comprising composite particle comprises pores, wherein about 75 vol. % to about 100 vol. % of the pores remain sealed and are configured to not be directly accessible by an electrolyte once the carbon-comprising composite particle is part of a Li-ion battery cell.
  18. 18 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the carbon-comprising composite particle comprises pores, wherein from about 30 vol. % to about 100 vol. % of the pores exhibit a characteristic dimension in a range from about 0.4 nm to about 15 nm.
  19. 19 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 18 , wherein from about 30 vol. % to about 100 vol. % of the pores exhibit the characteristic dimensions in the range from about 0.5 nm to about 10 nm.
  20. 20 . The carbon-comprising composite particle of claim 1 , wherein the carbon-comprising composite particle comprises sealed pores, wherein a volume fraction of the sealed pores ranges from about 5% to about 100% of a volume required for volume expansion of the conversion or alloying-type active material upon full lithiation.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application for patent is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/314,703, entitled “BATTERY ELECTRODE COMPOSITION COMPRISING BIOMASS-DERIVED CARBON,” filed May 9, 2023, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/805,953, entitled “BATTERY ELECTRODE COMPOSITION COMPRISING BIOMASS-DERIVED CARBON,” filed Jun. 8, 2022, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/570,972, entitled “BATTERY ELECTRODE COMPOSITION COMPRISING BIOMASS-DERIVED CARBON,” filed Sep. 13, 2019, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/731,771, entitled “SUPERCAPACITOR AND BATTERY ELECTRODES COMPRISING BIOLOGICALLY DERIVABLE CARBON,” filed Sep. 14, 2018, each of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND Field The present disclosure relates generally to energy storage devices, and more particularly to battery technology, supercapacitor technology and the like. Background Owing in part to their relatively high energy densities, relatively high specific energy, relatively high specific power, relatively fast charging, light weight, and potential for long lifetimes and cycle life, advanced rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors are desirable for a wide range of electronic devices, electric vehicles, grid storage and other important applications. However, despite the increasing commercial prevalence of electrochemical energy storage technologies, further development of the batteries and supercapacitors is needed, particularly for potential applications in low- or zero-emission, hybrid-electrical or fully-electrical vehicles, consumer electronics, energy-efficient cargo ships and locomotives, aerospace applications, and power grids. In particular, further improvements are desired for various rechargeable batteries, such as rechargeable metal and metal-ion batteries (such as rechargeable Li and Li-ion batteries, rechargeable Na and Na-ion batteries, rechargeable Mg and Mg-ion batteries, rechargeable K and K-ion batteries, rechargeable Ca and Ca-ion batteries, etc.). The following energy storage devices may similarly benefit from the additional improvements: rechargeable halogen-ion batteries (such as F-ion and Cl-ion batteries, etc.), rechargeable mixed ion batteries, rechargeable aqueous batteries (e.g., rechargeable batteries with pH-neutral or acidic or caustic electrolytes), electrochemical capacitors (e.g., supercapacitors or double layer capacitors), hybrid devices, rechargeable polymer electrolyte batteries and supercapacitors, rechargeable polymer gel electrolyte batteries and supercapacitors, rechargeable solid ceramic or solid glass electrolyte batteries, rechargeable composite electrolyte batteries, to name a few. A broad range of active (charge-storing) materials, a broad range of polymer binders, a broad range of conductive additives and various mixing recipes may be utilized in the construction of battery electrodes. In some designs, active materials may be utilized in the form of composite particles. However, for improved electrode performance (low and stable resistance, high cycling stability, high rate capability, acceptable energy, good volumetric capacity, etc.), the optimal composite formulations need to be identified. Furthermore, the choice of binders, additives, and mixing protocols needs to be discovered for specific types, specific physical and chemical properties and specific sizes of active particles. In many cases, the choices of the composite particle architecture and compositions as well as the composition of the electrodes are not trivial and can be counter-intuitive. In many different types of rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors, charge storing materials may be produced as (nano) composite powders, which may comprise conductive carbon. As a subset of such particles, conductive carbon may be biologically derived. In principle, such a class of charge-storing (nano) composite particles may offer great promises for scalable (and, in some case, sustainable) manufacturing and achieving good charge storage performance characteristics. Unfortunately, it largely remains unclear what types and what properties of biologically derived carbon would be advantageous in such applications of composite ((nano) composite) particles. In addition, it is further unclear how to achieve effective processing of such (nano) composite particles into electrodes that would result in good performance characteristics, including high capacity, fast charging, fast discharging and long cycle stability. The performance of battery electrodes comprised of similar (nano) composites may become particularly poor when the electrode capacity loading becomes moderate (for batteries) (2-4 mAh/cm2) or even more so when it becomes high (e.g., 4-16 mAh/cm2). Higher capacity loading, however, is advantageous for increasing battery cell energy density and reducing cell manufacturing costs.