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US-20260128276-A1 - LOWER PYROLYSIS TEMPERATURE BINDER FOR SILICON-DOMINANT ANODES

US20260128276A1US 20260128276 A1US20260128276 A1US 20260128276A1US-20260128276-A1

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for carbon additives for direct coating of silicon-dominant anodes. An example composition for use in directly coated anodes may include a silicon-dominated anode active material, a carbon-based binder, and a carbon-based additive, with the composition being configured for low-temperature pyrolysis. The low-temperature pyrolysis may be conducted at <600° C. An anode may be formed using a direct coating process of the composition on a current collector. The anode active material yields silicon constituting between 86% and 97% of weight of the formed anode after pyrolysis. The carbon-based additive yields carbon constituting between 2% and 6% of weight of the formed anode after pyrolysis.

Inventors

  • Monika Chhorng
  • David J. Lee
  • Rahul Kamath

Assignees

  • ENEVATE CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20260105

Claims (12)

  1. 1 . An anode, the anode comprising: a current collector; and an active material layer on the current collector, the active material layer comprising: a plurality of silicon particles; a pyrolytic carbon structure around the plurality of silicon particles of the active material layer; and a conductive carbon additive.
  2. 2 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolytic carbon structure comprises between 2% and 6% by weight of the anode.
  3. 3 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolytic carbon structure comprises between 4% and 5% by weight of the anode.
  4. 4 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolytic carbon structure comprises between 2% and 6% by weight of the anode after pyrolysis below 600° C.
  5. 5 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolytic carbon structure comprises between 4% and 5% by weight of the anode after pyrolysis below 600° C.
  6. 6 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolytic carbon structure comprises a glassy carbon.
  7. 7 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolytic carbon structure comprises a glassy carbon from pyrolysis of polyamide-imide (PAI).
  8. 8 . The anode of claim 7 , wherein an onset of pyrolysis of the PAI occurs below 500° C.
  9. 9 . The anode of claim 1 , comprising an adhesive layer between the active material layer and the current collector.
  10. 10 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein: the current collector comprises copper; and an interface between the current collector and the active material layer lacks a formation of CuxSi material.
  11. 11 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein: the current collector comprises nickel; and an interface between the current collector and the active material layer lacks a formation of NixSi material.
  12. 12 . The anode of claim 1 , wherein the conductive carbon additive comprises at least one of ECP, ECP600, Super-P, and SLP.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a is a continuation of and claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 18/439,397, filed Feb. 12, 2024 (now allowed), which is a continuation of and claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/945,790, filed Sep. 15, 2022 (now U.S. Pat. No. 11,901,543), which is a continuation of and claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/681,401, filed Nov. 12, 2019, (now U.S. Pat. No. 11,450,841). The entirety of all of the above referenced applications are hereby incorporated by reference. FIELD Aspects of the present disclosure relate to energy generation and storage. More specifically, certain embodiments of the disclosure relate to a method and system for a binder with a lower pyrolysis temperature. Such a binder may be used in a battery with a silicon-dominant anode. BACKGROUND Conventional approaches for battery anodes may be costly, cumbersome, and/or inefficient—e.g., they may be complex and/or time consuming to implement, and may limit battery lifetime. Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present disclosure as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings. BRIEF SUMMARY A system and/or method are provided for a binder with a lower pyrolysis temperature, where such a binder is used in a battery with a silicon-dominant anode, substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims. These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of the present disclosure, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, will be more fully understood from the following description and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram of a battery with anode expansion configured via silicon particle size, in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 2 illustrates anode expansion during lithiation, in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 3A illustrates the thermalgravimetric analysis (TGA) of a cured anode comprising PAI, in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 3B illustrates a comparison between the TGA of uncured PAI and the TGA of cured PAI, in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 3C illustrates the TGA of PI, in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a process for direct coating electrodes, in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an alternative process for transfer lamination of electrodes, in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 6 is a plot illustrating discharge capacity performance for anode slurry formulations with 92% silicon and binders comprising either PAI (Polyamide imide) or PI (polyimide), in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 7 is a plot illustrating discharge capacity performance for anode slurry formulations with 86% silicon and binders comprising either PAI (Polyamide imide) or PI (polyimide), in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a diagram of a battery with a silicon-dominant anode that experiences anode expansion, in accordance with an example embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a battery 100 comprising a separator 103 sandwiched between an anode 101 and a cathode 105, with current collectors 107A and 107B. There is also shown a load 109 coupled to the battery 100 illustrating instances when the battery 100 is in discharge mode. In this disclosure, the term “battery” may be used to indicate a single electrochemical cell, a plurality of electrochemical cells formed into a module, and/or a plurality of modules formed into a pack. The development of portable electronic devices and electrification of transportation drive the need for high performance electrochemical energy storage. Small-scale (<100 Wh) to large-scale (>10KWh) devices primarily use lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries over other rechargeable battery chemistries due to their high-performance. The anode 101 and cathode 105, along with the current collectors 107A and 107B, may comprise the electrodes, which may comprise plates or films within, or containing, an electrolyte material, where the plates may provide a physical barrier for containing the electrolyte as well as a conductive contact to external structures. In other embodiments, the anode/cathode plates are immersed in electrolyte while an outer casing provides electrolyte containment. The anode 101 and cathode are electrically coupled to the current collectors 107A and 107B, which comprise metal or other conductive material for providing electrical contact to the electrodes as well as physic