• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.341-348
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• 2019

This paper reports the microstructure and electrochemical properties of Si-Al-Fe ternary amorphous alloys prepared by rapid solidification as an anode for lithium secondary batteries. The microstructure was analyzed using XRD and HR-TEM with EDS mapping. In accordance with DSC analysis, annealing was performed to crystallize the active nano-Si in the amorphous alloy. Thus, nano-Si forms (~80 nm) embedded in the matrix alloy, such as $Fe_2Al_3Si_3$, $FeSi_2$, and $Fe_{0.42}Si_{2.67}$, were successfully synthesized. The electrode based on the Si-Al-Fe ternary alloy delivered an initial discharge capacity of approximately $700mAh^{g-1}$, and exhibited a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.0~99.6% from the $2^{nd}$ to $70^{th}$ cycles.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.82-88
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• 2019

Here, we report on nanocrystalline Si-Al-M (M = Fe, Cu, Ni, Zr) alloys for use as an anode for lithium-ion batteries, which were fabricated via a melt-spinning method. Based on the XRD and TEM analyses, it was found that the Si-Al-M alloys consist of nanocrystalline Si grains surrounded by an amorphous matrix phase. Among the Si-Al-M alloys with different metal composition, Ni-incorporated Si-Al-M alloy electrode retained the high discharge capacity of 2492 mAh/g and exhibited improved cyclability. The superior $Li^+$ storage performance of Si-Al-M alloy with Ni component is mainly responsible for the incorporated Ni, which induces the formation of ductile and conductive inactive matrix with crystalline Al phase, in addition to the grain size reduction of active Si phase.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.24-28
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• 2017

Silicon alloys are considered promising anode active materials to replace Li-ion batteries by graphite powder, because they have a relatively high capacity of up to 4200 mAh/g, and are environmentally friendly and inexpensive ECO-materials. However, its poor charge/discharge properties, induced by cracking during cycles, constitute their most serious problem as anode electrode. In order to solve these problems, Si-Ge-Al alloys with porous structure are designed as anode alloy powders, to improve cycling stability. The alloys are melt-spun to obtain the rapidly solidified ribbons, and then ball-milled to make fine powders. The powders are etched using 1 M HCl solution, which gives the powders a porous structure by removing the element Al. Subsequently, in this study, the microstructures and the characteristics of the etched powders are evaluated for application as anode materials. As a result, the etched porous powder shows better electrochemical properties than as-milled Si-Ge-Al powder.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2018

Various Si-Fe-Al ternary alloys were prepared with the same amount of Si by the melt spinning technique. The feasibility of the capacity prediction approach based on the estimation of the active amount of Si using the phase diagram was practically examined and reported. These predictions were verified by the electrochemical test of fabricated coin cells and other characterization methods. The capacity prediction approach using the phase diagram might be a fundamental and efficient method to accelerate the practical application of Si-based alloys as the anode material for Li-ion batteries. The details on the prediction procedure were discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.302-303
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• 2010

Generally, the high energy lithium ion batteries depend intimately on the high capacity of electrode materials. For anode materials, the capacity of commercial graphite is unlike to increase much further due to its lower theoretical capacity of 372 mAhg-1. To improve upon graphite-based negative electrode materials for Li-ion rechargeable batteries, alternative anode materials with higher capacity are needed. Therefore, some metal anodes with high theoretic capacity, such as Si, Sn, Ge, Al, and Sb have been studied extensively. This work focuses on ternary Si-M1-M2 composite system, where M1 is Ge that alloys with Li, which has good cyclability and high specific capacity and M2 is Mo that does not alloy with Li. The Si shows the highest gravimetric capacity (up to 4000mAhg-1 for Li21Si5). Although Si is the most promising of the next generation anodes, it undergoes a large volume change during lithium insertion and extraction. It results in pulverization of the Si and loss of electrical contact between the Si and the current collector during the lithiation and delithiation. Thus, its capacity fades rapidly during cycling. Si thin film is more resistant to fracture than bulk Si because the film is firmly attached to the substrate. Thus, Si film could achieve good cycleability as well as high capacity. To improve the cycle performance of Si, Suzuki et al. prepared two components active (Si)-active(Sn, like Ge) elements film by vacuum deposition, where Sn particles dispersed homogeneously in the Si matrix. This film showed excellent rate capability than pure Si thin film. In this work, second element, Ge shows also high capacity (about 2500mAhg-1 for Li21Ge5) and has good cyclability although it undergoes a large volume change likewise Si. But only Ge does not use the anode due to its costs. Therefore, the electrode should be consisted of moderately Ge contents. Third element, Mo is an element that does not alloys with Li such as Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, V, Zr. In our previous research work, we have fabricated Si-Mo (active-inactive elements) composite negative electrodes by using RF/DC magnetron sputtering method. The electrodes showed excellent cycle characteristics. The Mo-silicide (inert matrix) dispersed homogeneously in the Si matrix and prevents the active material from aggregating. However, the thicker film than $3\;{\mu}m$ with high Mo contents showed poor cycling performance, which was attributed to the internal stress related to thickness. In order to deal with the large volume expansion of Si anode, great efforts were paid on material design. One of the effective ways is to find suitably three-elements (Si-Ge-Mo) contents. In this study, the Si based composites of 45~65 Si at.% and 23~43 Ge at.%, and 12~32 Mo at.% are evaluated the electrochemical characteristics and cycle performances as an anode. Results from six different compositions of Si-Ge-Mo are presented compared to only the Si and Ge negative electrodes.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2014

Recently, the fuel oil of diesel engines of marine ships has been increasingly changed to heavy oil of low quality as the oil price is getting higher and higher. Therefore, the spiral gear attached at the motor of the oil purifier which plays an important role to purify the heavy oil is also easy to expose at severe environmental condition due to the purification of the heavy oil in higher temperature. Thus, the material of the spiral gear requires a better mechanical strength, wear and corrosion resistance. In this study, the heat treatment(tempering) with various holding time at temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ was carried out to the alloy of Cu-7Al-2.5Si as centrifugal casting, and the properties of both hardness and corrosion resistance with and without heat treatment were investigated with observation of the microstructure and with electrochemical methods, such as measurement of corrosion potential, cathodic and anodic polarization curves, cyclic voltammogram, and a.c. impedance. in natural seawater solution. The ${\alpha}$, ${\beta}^{\prime}$ and ${\gamma}_2$ phases were observed in the material in spite of no heat treatment due to quenching effect of a spin mold. However, their phases, that is, ${\beta}^{\prime}$ and ${\gamma}_2$ phases decreased gradually with increasing the holding time at a constant temperature of $500^{\circ}C$. The hardness more or less decreased with heat treatment, however its corrosion resistance was improved with the heat treatment. Furthermore, the longer holding time, the better corrosion resistance. In addition, when the holding time was 48hrs, its corrosion current density showed the lowest value. The pattern of corroded surface was nearly similar to that of the pitting corrosion, and this morphology was greatly observed in the case of no heat treatment. It is considered that ${\gamma}_2$ phase at the grain boundary was corroded preferentially as an anode. However, the pattern of general corrosion exhibited increasingly due to decreasing the ${\gamma}_2$ phase with heat treatment. Consequently, it is suggested that the corrosion resistance of Cu-7Al-2.5Si alloy can be improved with the heat treatment as a holding time for 48 hrs at $500^{\circ}C$.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.161-167
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• 1998

It has been investigated the effects of alloying elements and binders on the corrosion behavior of metal hydride electrodes for anode of Ni/MH secondary battery. The $AB_5$-type alloys, $(LM)Ni_{4.49}Co_{0.1}Mn_{0.205}Al_{0.205}$ and $(LM)Ni_{3.6}Co_{0.7}Mn_{0.3}Al_{0.4}$, were used for the experiments. The electrodes were prepared by mixing and cold-pressing of alloy powders with Si sealent or PTFE powders, or cold-pressing the electroless copper coated alloy powders. The amount of copper coating was 20wt%. In order to examine corrosion behavior of the electrodes, the corrosion current and the current density, in 6M KOH aqueous solution after removal of oxygen in the solution, were measured by potentiodynamic and cyclic voltamo methods. The results showed that Co in the alloy increased corrosion resistance of the electrode whereas Ni decreased the stability of the electrode during the charge-discharge cycles. The electrode used Si sealant as a binder showed a lower corrosion current density than the electrode used PTFE and the electrode used Cu-coated alloy powders showed the best corrosion resistance.