• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.444-448
• /
• 2016

Hollow silicon/carbon (H-Si/C) composites as anode materials for lithium ion batteries were investigated to overcome the large volume expansion. H-Si/C composites were prepared as follows; hollow $SiO_2\;(H-SiO_2)$ was prepared by adding $NaBH_4$ to $SiO_2$ synthesized using $st{\ddot{o}}ber$ method followed by magnesiothermic reduction and carbonization of phenolic resin. The H-Si/C composites were analyzed by XRD, SEM, BET and EDX. To improve the capacity and cycle performance, the electrochemical characteristics of H-Si/C composites synthesized with various $NaBH_4$ contents were investigated by charge/discharge, cycle, cyclic voltammetry and impedance tests. The coin cell using H-Si/C composite ($SiO_2:NaBH_4=1:1$ in weight) in the electrolyte of $LiPF_6$ dissolved in organic solvents (EC : DMC : EMC = 1 : 1 : 1 vol%) has better capacity (1459 mAh/g) than those of other composition coin cells. It is found that the coin cell ($SiO_2:NaBH_4=1:1$ in weight) has an excellent capacity retention from 2nd cycle to 40th cycle.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.191-200
• /
• 2022

Na-β"-Al₂O₃ has been widely employed as a solid electrolyte for high-temperature sodium (Na) beta-alumina batteries (NBBs) thanks to its superb thermal stability and high ionic conductivity. Recently, a vapor phase conversion (VPC) method has been newly introduced to fabricate thin Na-β"-Al₂O₃ electrolytes by converting α-Al₂O₃ into β"-Al₂O₃ in α-Al₂O₃/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) composites under Na⁺ and O^2- dual percolation environments. One of the main challenges that need to be figured out is lowered conductivity due to the large volume fraction of the non-Na⁺-conducting YSZ. In this study, the effect of lithia addition in the β"-Al₂O₃ phase on the grain size and ionic conductivity of Na-β"-Al₂O₃/YSZ solid electrolytes have been investigated in order to enhance the conductivity of the electrolyte. The amount of pre-added lithia (Li₂O) precursor as a phase stabilizer was varied at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 mol% against that of Al₂O₃. It turns out that ionic conductivity increases even with 1 mol% lithia addition and reaches 67 mS cm^-1 at 350 ℃ of its maximum with 3 mol%, which is two times higher than that of the undoped composite.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.55 no.3
• /
• pp.430-435
• /
• 2017

$Li_4Ti_5O_{12}$ (LTO) is an anode material for lithium ion battery, and the cycle performance is very good. The volume change of LTO during insertion and deinsertion of lithium ion is very small, so the cyclibility is very high. In this experiment graphene and CNT was added to increase the low conductivity of LTO which is the weak point of LTO. When graphene was located on the surface of LTO the conductivity did not increase so much because of the nano size LTO. Addition of CNT increased the conductivity because of the formation of the conducting network between LTO particle and the graphene. Carbon material addition was changed before and after the LTO manufacturing, and the capacity and the cyclibility was compared.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.59 no.1
• /
• pp.35-41
• /
• 2021

Silicon is a promising next-generation anode material for lithium-ion battery, and it has been studied for commercialization due to the high theoretical capacity. However, it has problems of the volume change during charge-discharge and the poor electrical conductivity. To solve these problems, formation of SiO2 and carbon coating on the surface of silicon crystal were performed to protect the side reaction and enhance the electrical conductivity of silicon. CNT and CNF were also added to mitigate the volume change and increase the conductivity. Physical properties of asprepared samples were analyzed by XRD, SEM, and EDS. Electrochemical characteristics were investigated by electrical conductivity measurement, EIS, CV and cycle performance test. (Si/SiO2/C)+CNT&CNF showed high electrical conductivity and low charge-transfer resistance, and the capacity was 1528 mAh/g at 1st cycle and 1055 mAh/g at 50th cycle with 83% capacity retention.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.1119-1123
• /
• 2008

Tin oxide was prepared by microwave heating for anode material of lithium ion battery. The samples were heated at 300, 500 and $700^{\circ}C$ for 3h under flowing oxygen after microwave heating. The effect of microwave heating on the electrochemical performance of the manufactured tin oxide and the reversible capacity performance were investigated. Tin oxide heated at $500^{\circ}C$ showed higher capacity than those at $300^{\circ}C$ and $700^{\circ}C$ under microwave heating condition. Comparing microwave and furnace heating, microwave heating condition showed higher capacity. The discharge capacity after microwave heating and $500^{\circ}C$ heating showed 1,500 mAh/g.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.140-144
• /
• 2010

Titania-silica composite materials were obtained by sol-gel method from TiCl4 and TEOS precusors, and they were applied to anode materials of lithium ion battery. Uniformly distributed composite materials can be manufactured by sol-gel method. The composite materials were heat treated by microwave to obtain materials with new properties. The experimental variables were composition of the material, heat treatment temperature, and microwave exposure. The structure and surface properties of the materials were analyzed by XRD, SEM, and the electrochemical capacity was measured with charge/discharge cycler.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.332-338
• /
• 2018

Currently graphite is used as an anode active material for lithium ion battery. However, since the maximum theoretical capacity of graphite is limited to $372mA\;h\;g^{-1}$, a new anode active material is required for the development of next generation high capacity and high energy density lithium ion battery. The maximum theoretical capacity of Si is $4200mA\;h\;g^{-1}$, which is about 10 times higher than the maximum theoretical capacity of graphite. However, since the volume expansion rate is almost 400%, the irreversible capacity increases as the cycle progresses and the discharge capacity relative to the charge is remarkably reduced. In order to solve these problems, it is possible to control the particle size of the Si anode active material to reduce the mechanical stress and the volume change of the reaction phase, thereby improving the cycle characteristics. Therefore, in order to minimize the decrease of the charge / discharge capacity according to the volume expansion rate of the Si particles, the improvement of the cycle characteristics was carried out by pulverizing Si by a dry method with excellent processing time and cost. In this paper, Si is controlled to nano size using vibrating mill and the physicochemical and electrochemical characteristics of the material are measured according to experimental variables.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.69-75
• /
• 2008

Discharge capacity of $LiCoO_2$ in preparation by mechanochemical process decreased remarkably over 4.3V. However, Zr coating of $LiCoO_2$ showed very stable electrochemical properties up to 4.5V. Zr coating of $LiCoO_2$ in this experiment showed the discharge capacity of 197 mAh/g at 3.0-4.5V, and it maintained 96% of the initial discharge capacity after 50 cycle of charge/discharge.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 1999.07a
• /
• pp.115-115
• /
• 1999

In this work a new process was developed for the sulfonation of the chemicallly stable engineering polymer polyethersulfone as membrane materials for electrodialysis or a flow battery applications. Commercially available polyethersulfone polymer was partially sulfonated using a CSA sulfonating agent in a dichloromethane solvent, which sulfonated polyethersulfone with various sulfonation levels have been prepared. Sulfonated polyethersulfone (SPES) membranes with different ion capacities were prepared for the purpose of identifying cation exchange membrane properties, in an attempt to find a low cost replacement for Nafion, which most of the perfluorinated membranes, known to exhibit a prolonged service life, are expensive and difficult to process. The following features were determined: the degree of sulfonation, water uptake, thermal analysis, and electrochemical properties such as ion exchange capacities, resistivity, selectivity of ion permeation. The surface of the cation exchange membranes, decomposed with the H202-treatment, were observed by using scanning electron microscope. The area resistivities of SPES mebranes in 5N-NaOH decreased from $2,150{\;}{\Omega}-cm2$ to less than $15{\Omega}-cm2$ as the ion exchange capacity (IEC) increased from 0.62 to 1.73 millieequivlants per dry gram(meq/dg).eq/dg).

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.18 no.9
• /
• pp.457-462
• /
• 2008

Through the electrostatic interaction between the poly-diallydimethylammonium chloride (PDDA) modified Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) and $SnO_2$ suspension in 1mM $NaNo_3$ solution, MWNT-$SnO_2$ nanocomposites (MSC) for anode electrodes of a Li-ion battery were successfully fabricated by colloidal heterocoagulation method. TEM observation showed that most of the $SnO_2$ nanoparticles were uniformly deposited on the outside surface of the MWNT. Galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling tests showed that MSC anodes exhibited higher specific capacities than bare MWNT and better cyclability than unsupported nano-$SnO_2$ anodes. Also, after 20 cycles, the MSC anode fabricated by heterocoagulation method showed more stable cycle properties than the simply mixed MSC anode. These improved electrochemical properties are attributed to the MWNT, which adsorbs the mechanical stress induced from volume change and increasing electrical conductivity of the MSC anode, and suppresses the aggregation between the $SnO_2$ nanoparticles.