Chemical-Free Production of Graphene-Wrapped Electrode Active Material Particles for Battery Applications

Abstract

Provided is a simple, fast, scalable, and environmentally benign method of producing graphene-embraced or encapsulated particles of a battery electrode active material directly from a graphitic material, the method comprising: a) mixing graphitic material particles, multiple particles of an electrode active material, and non-polymeric particles of milling media to form a mixture in an impacting chamber, wherein the graphitic material has never been intercalated, oxidized, or exfoliated and the chamber contains therein no previously produced graphene sheets; b) operating the energy impacting apparatus with a frequency and an intensity for a length of time sufficient for peeling off graphene sheets from the graphitic material and transferring graphene sheets to surfaces of electrode active material particles to produce graphene-embraced active material particles; and c) recovering the graphene-embraced particles from the impacting chamber. Also provided is a mass of the graphene-embraced particles, electrode containing such particles, and battery containing this electrode.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15 / 156,504 (May 17, 2016), the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein, in their entirety, for all purposes.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to the field of lithium batteries and, in particular, to an environmentally benign and cost-effective method of producing graphene-protected electrode active materials for lithium batteries.BACKGROUNDA Review on Anode Active Materials[0003]The most commonly used anode materials for lithium-ion batteries are natural graphite and synthetic graphite (or artificial graphite) that can be intercalated with lithium and the resulting graphite intercalation compound (GIC) may be expressed as LixC6, where x is typically less than 1. The maximum amount of lithium that can be reversibly intercalated into the interstices between graphene planes of a perfect graphite crystal correspo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a method for simultaneously producing and modifying graphene sheets for improved battery performance. The method involves transferring graphene sheets to electrode active material particles through impact-induced kinetic energy. The resulting functional groups on the graphene sheets can be used to improve the mechanical properties, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity of the electrode. The method is simple and efficient, allowing for the simultaneous inclusion of various chemical species in the impacting chamber. The resulting functional groups can be used to capture lithium or sodium atoms and form redox pairs, providing an additional mechanism for storing lithium or sodium ions in a battery electrode. The method can be further expanded by adding new functional groups to the graphene sheets.

Problems solved by technology

There are several major problems associated with this conventional chemical production process:(1) The process requires the use of large quantities of several undesirable chemicals, such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and potassium permanganate or sodium chlorate.(2) The chemical treatment process requires a long intercalation and oxidation time, typically 5 hours to five days.(3) Strong acids consume a significant amount of graphite during this long intercalation or oxidation process by “eating their way into the graphite” (converting graphite into carbon dioxide, which is lost in the process).

It is not unusual to lose 20-50% by weight of the graphite material immersed in strong acids and oxidizers.(4) The thermal exfoliation requires a high temperature (typically 800-1,200° C.) and, hence, is a highly energy-intensive process.(5) Both heat- and solution-induced exfoliation approaches require a very tedious washing and purification step.

During the high-temperature exfoliation, the residual intercalate species retained by the flakes decompose to produce various species of sulfuric and nitrous compounds (e.g., NOx and SOx), which are undesirable.

The process must be carefully conducted in a vacuum or an extremely dry glove box environment since pure alkali metals, such as potassium and sodium, are extremely sensitive to moisture and pose an explosion danger.

This process is not amenable to the mass production of NGPs.

However, these processes are not suitable for mass production of isolated graphene sheets for composite materials and energy storage applications.

This is a slow process that thus far has produced very small graphene sheets.

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