Preparation of a Binder-Free Three-Dimensional Carbon Foam/Silicon Composite as Potential Material for Lithium Ion Battery Anodes

Abstract

We report a novel three-dimensional nitrogen containing carbon foam/silicon (CFS) composite as potential material for lithium ion battery anodes. Carbon foams were prepared by direct carbonization of low cost, commercially available melamine formaldehyde (MF, Basotect) foam precursors. The carbon foams thus obtained display a three-dimensional interconnected macroporous network structure with good electrical conductivity (0.07 S/cm). Binder free CFS composites used for electrodes were prepared by immersing the as-fabricated carbon foam into silicon nanoparticles dispersed in ethanol followed by solvent evaporation and secondary pyrolysis. In order to substantiate this new approach, preliminary electrochemical testing has been done. The first results on CFS electrodes demonstrated initial capacity of 1668 mAh/g with 75% capacity retention after 30 cycles of subsequent charging and discharging. In order to further enhance the electrochemical performance, silicon nanoparticles were additionally coated with a nitrogen containing carbon layer derived from codeposited poly(acrylonitrile). These carbon coated CFS electrodes demonstrated even higher performance with an initial capacity of 2100 mAh/g with 92% capacity retention after 30 cycles of subsequent charging and discharging.

3D Current Collectors for Lithium‐Ion Batteries: A Topical Review

“…Recently, novel current collectors with 3D hierarchical structures were used to support the deposition of the active materials to fabricate binder‐free electrodes . As shown in Figure d, the combination of 3D current collectors and directly deposited nanostructured active materials can result in electrodes with a novel superhierarchical architecture . The enhancement of the electrochemical performance by these superhierarchical binder‐free electrodes has been confirmed by a large amount of relevant published results.…”

Regulating Capacitive Performance of Monolithic Carbon Sponges by Balancing Heteroatom Content, Surface Area and Graphitization Degree

“…[33] By direct carbonization, a novel heteroatom-doped carbon body with a low density, high conductivity, and three-dimensional (3D) network could be conveniently prepared. [26,34,35] The obtained carbon sponges not only well maintain the pristine porous structure of melamine foam but also have a large surface area and good conductivity. [26] The 3D interconnected structure can efficiently facilitate the electron transfer and the access of electrolyte to carbon foams during the charge/ discharge process.…”

Resin and carbon foam production by cationic step-growth polymerization of organic carbonates

“…[32][33][34] Porous carbon materials play an important role in applications such as separation, adsorption or as catalyst support materials. [35][36][37] Thus, the polymer foams were converted into carbon foams by pyrolysis at 800°C in an Ar atmosphere.…”