Silicon carbon composite materials and method for making same

Abstract

The invention relates generally to a method for making a silicon-carbon composite comprising nanoscale silicon and carbon, the method comprising the steps of preparing a dispersion of silicon nanoparticles and the selected form/s of carbon; spray drying the dispersion to form essentially spherical silicon nanoparticles; heat treating the silicon nanoparticles to pyrolyse and/or burn off any polymers, and to strengthen the silicon nanoparticles; coating the silicon nanoparticles with carbon to form the Si:C composite; and optionally, adding additional elements such as lithium, magnesium, nitrogen and halogen gases to the composite, either during the heating step (c) or coating step (d) or during a subsequent heat treatment step. The invention relates further to composites made by such method, an anode made of such composite and a batter comprising such anode.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.