The Electrochemical Characteristics of Surface-modified Carbonaceous Materials by tin Oxides and Copper for Lithium Secondary Batteries

Lithium intercalated carbon (LIC) are basically employed as an anode for currently commercialized lithium secondary batteries. However, there are still strong interests in modifying carbon surface of active materials of the anode because the amount of irreversible capacity, charge-discharge capacity and high rate capability are largely determined by the surface conditions of the carbon. In this study, the carbonaceous materials were coated with tin oxide and copper by fluidized-bed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and their coating effects on electrochemical characteristics were investigated. The electrode which coated with tin oxides gave the higher capacity than that of raw material. Their capacity decreased with the progress of cycling possibly due to severe volume changes. However, the cyclability was improved by coating with copper on the surface of the tin oxides coated carbonaceous materials, which plays an important role as an inactive matrix buffering volume changes. An impedance on passivation film was decreased as tin oxides contents and it resulted in the higher capacity.