• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.411-417
• /
• 2013

To use as an anode material of lithium secondary battery, graphite-silicon composite powders are prepared by ball-milling with silicon nanoparticles (average diameter 100 nm, 0~50 wt%) and graphite powder (average diameter $15{\mu}m$) and their electrochemical properties are examined. As the silicon content increases, the graphite becomes smaller by the ball-milling and amorphous phase appears whereas the silicon do not suffer the change of nanocrystalline phases and embeds within the amorphous phase of graphite. Cyclic voltammetry at low scan rate reveals that typical oxidation peaks of graphite and silicon appear at 0.2~0.35 and 0.55~0.6 V, respectively, with higher reversibility for repeated cycles. In contrast, the high-scan-rate redox behavior is very irreversible for repeated cycles. High irreversible capacity is exhibited in the initial charging-discharging cycles, but it diminishes as the cycle number increases. The saturated discharge capacity achieves about 485 mAh $g^{-1}$ at 50th cycle for the composite of Si 20 wt%. This is due to the formation of amorphous graphite morphology by the adequate composition (C:Si=8:2 w/w), which efficiently buffers the volume change during alloying/dealloying between silicon and lithium.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.74-81
• /
• 2021

Silicon (Si) is recognized as a promising anode material for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries. However, under a condition of electrode comparable to commercial graphite anodes with low binder content and a high electrode density, the practical use of Si is limited due to the huge volume change associated with Si-Li alloying/de-alloying. Here, we report a novel core-shell composite, having a reversible capacity of ~ 500 mAh g-1, by forming a shell composed of a mixture of nano-Si, graphite nanosheets and a pitch carbon on a spherical natural graphite particle. The electrochemical measurements are performed using electrodes with 2 wt % styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and 2 wt.% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) binder in an electrode density of ~ 1.6 g cm-3. The core-shell composites having the reversible capacity of 478 mAh g-1 shows the outstanding capacity retention of 99% after 100 cycles with the initial coulombic efficiency of 90%. The heterostructure of core-shell composites appears to be very effective in buffering the volume change of Si during cycling.

• Carbon letters
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.335-339
• /
• 2007

Carbon/silicon composites were synthesized by mixing silicon powders with petroleum pitch and subsequent heat-treatment. The resultant composites were composed of carbon and nano-size crystalline silicon identified by XRD and EDX. FIB images and SEM images were taken respectively to detect the existence of silicon impregnated in carbon and the distribution of silicon on the carbon surface. The obtained carbon/silicon materials were assembled as half cell anodes for lithium ion secondary battery and their electrochemical properties were tested. The pitch/silicon composite (3 : 1 wt. ratio) heat treated at $1000^{\circ}C$ and mixed with 55.5 wt.% of graphite showed relatively good electrochemical properties such as the initial efficiency of 78%, the initial discharge capacity of 605 mAh/g, and the discharge capacity of 500 mAh/g after 20 cycles.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.1435-1440
• /
• 2013

To investigate the influence of the carbon matrix on the electrochemical performance of Si/C composites, four types of Si/C composites were prepared using graphite, petroleum coke, pitch and sucrose as carbon precursors. A ball mill was used to prepare Si/C blends from graphite and petroleum coke, whereas a dispersion technique was used to fabricate Si/C composites where Si was embedded in disordered carbon matrix derived from pitch or sucrose. The Si/pitch-based carbon composite showed superior Si utilization (96% in the first cycle) and excellent cycle retention (70% after 40 cycles), which was attributed to the effective encapsulation of Si and the buffering effect of the surrounding carbon matrix on the silicon particles.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.104-109
• /
• 2016

Graphite's thermal stability facilitates its widespread use as crucibles and molds in high temperatures processes. However, carbon atoms can be rather easily detached from pores and outer surfaces of the graphite due to the weak molecular force of the c axis of graphites. Detached carbon atoms are known to become a source of dust during fabrication processes, eventually lowering the effective yield of products. As an effort to reduce these problems of dust scattering, we have fabricated SiC composites by employing Si vapor infiltration method into the pores of graphites. In order to understand the diffusion process of the Si vapor infiltration, Si and C atomic percentages of fabricated SiC composites are carefully measured and the diffusion law is used to estimate the diffusion coefficient of Si vapor. A quadratic equation is obtained from the experimental results using the least square method. Diffusion coefficient of Si vapor is estimated using this quadratic equation. The result shows that the diffusion length obtained through the Si vapor infiltration method is about 10.7 times longer than that obtained using liquid Si and clearly demonstrates the usefulness of the present method.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.47-58
• /
• 2004

Loss factors of A356, Mn-Cu alloy and aluminum matrix composites reinforced with $SiC_p$ and Ni-coated graphite particles at various contents have been investigated using clamped-free cantilever beam method. The loss factors of half-power bandwidth of the specimens were measured over a wide range of frequencies from 50 to 3300Hz. Among the specimens, Al-10%$SiC_p$-10%$C_p$ showed the highest loss factor at the mode I, while Mn-Cu alloy showed the highest loss factors at the modes II and III. Consequently, at the mode I the Al-10%$SiC_p$--10%$C_p$ showed the loss factor of 0.00093, which is 2.64 and 1.58 times higher than those of A356 and Mn-Cu alloy, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.34 no.8
• /
• pp.854-860
• /
• 1997

The tribological property of ceramics is very important for use in seal rings, pump parts, thread guides and mechanical seal, etc. In the present study, which RBSC/graphite composites were manufactured by adding graphite powders with different particle sizes to mixtures of SiC powder, metallic silicon, carbon black and alumina, effects on the tribological property of each RBSC/graphite composite was investigated in accordance with the particle size of the added graphite powder. The water absorption, the bending strength and the resistance for the friction and wear were measured, and the crystalline phase and the microstructure were respectively examined by using XRD and SEM. In case that the particle size of the graphite powder was fine(2${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$), the formation of $\beta$-SiC was accelerated, thereby making the increase of the bending strength and the decrease of the water absorption, but no improvement for the tribological properties. Furthermore, in case that the particle size of the graphite powder was some large(88~149${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$), the formation of $\beta$-SiC was not accelerated, to thereby make the decrease of the bending strength and the increase of the water absorption, but the improvement for the tribological property of only the composite having the graphite powder of 20 vol%. In addition, in case that the particle size distribution of the graphite powder was large (under 53 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$), there was no improvement for every properties. However, the composites, which the graphite powder with the particle size of 53~88 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ was added in 10~15 vol%, had the most increased resistance for the friction and wear which show the worn out amount of 0.4~0.6$\times$10-3 $\textrm{cm}^2$, and the value of the bending strength is 380~520 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.399-406
• /
• 1994

The SiC/MoSi2 composite material was prepared by infiltration with the mixture of metal Si and MoSi2 into the preform of $\alpha$-SiC and graphite under the vacuum atmosphere of 10-1 torr. The mechanical properties, phases and microstructural characteristics have been investigated by employing an universal testing machine, scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer. With the increase of MoSi2/Si mixing content, the quantity of the residual silicon phase was decreased and the hardness and fracture toughness of composite materials were increased. Also, as the infiltration temperature increased, a lot of fine-grained $\beta$-SiC phases, which were produced from the reaction of graphite and liquid silicon melt, were transformed to $\alpha$-SiC phases.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.223-231
• /
• 2021

In order to address many issues associated with large volume changes of silicon, which has very low electrical conductivity but offers about 10 times higher theoretical capacity than graphite (Gr), a silicon nanoparticles/hollow carbon (SiNP/HC) composite having bimodal-mesopores was prepared using silica nanoparticles as a template. A control SiNP/C composite without a hollow structure was also prepared for comparison. The physico-chemical and electrochemical properties of SiNP/HC were analyzed by X-ray diffractometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements for surface area and pore size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, galvanostatic cycling, and cyclic voltammetry tests to compare them with those of the SiNP/C composite. The SiNP/HC composite showed significantly better cycle life and efficiency than the SiNP/C, with minimal increase in electrode thickness after long cycles. A hybrid composite, SiNP/HC@Gr, prepared by physical mixing of the SiNP/HC and Gr at a 50:50 weight ratio, exhibited even better cycle life and efficiency than the SiNP/HC at low capacity. Thus, silicon/carbon composites designed to have hollow spaces capable of accommodating volume expansion were found to be highly effective for long cycle life of silicon-based composites. However, further study is required to improve the low initial coulombic efficiency of SiNP/HC and SiNP/HC@Gr, which is possibly because of their high surface area causing excessive electrolyte decomposition for the formation of solid-electrolyte-interface layers.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.309-312
• /
• 2008

Two different anode composite materials comprising of Fe, Cu and Si prepared using high energy ball milling (HEBM) were explored for their capacity and cycling behaviors. Prepared powder composites in the ratio Cu:Fe:Si = 1:1:2.5 and 1:1:3.5 were characterized through X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Nevertheless, the XRD shows absence of any new alloy/compound formation upon ball milling, the elements present in Cu(1)Fe(1)Si(2.5)/Graphite composite along with insito generated Li2O demonstrate a superior anodic behavior and delivers a reversible capacity of 340 mAh/g with a high coulombic efficiency (98%). The higher silicon content Cu(1)Fe(1)Si(3.5) along with graphite could not sustain capacity with cycling possibly due to ineffective buffer action of the anode constituents.