Carbon electrode materials for lithium battery cells and method of making same
AssigneeMotorola, Inc.
InventorsJinshan Zhang, Anaba A. Anani
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Abstract
A method for preparing an amorphous carbon material for use as an electrode, such as the anode of an electrochemical cell. The amorphous carbon is fabricated in a one heating step process from multi-functional organic monomers. The material is then reheated in the presence of a lithium salt such as LiNO.sub.3, Li.sub.3 PO.sub.4 or LiOH. Electrodes so fabricated may be incorporated into electrochemical cells (10) as the anode (20) thereof.
Claims15
A method of fabricating an amorphous carbon material for use as an electrode in a rechargeable electrochemical cell, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a multi-functional organic monomer having the structure ##STR4## wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.3 are all selected from the group consisting of carboxylic acids of eight carbons or less, carboxylic esters of eight carbons or less, alcohols of eight carbons or less, carboxylic anhydrides of eight carbons or less, amines, and combinations thereof, and wherein at least one of R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.3 is different than the others;
- mixing said multi-functional organic monomer with operative amounts of an acidic catalyst;
- subjecting said mixture to a solid state carbonization process in an inert environment;
- comminuting the amorphous carbon material;
- and
- heating said comminuting amorphous carbon material in the presence of a lithium-containing compound.
A method of fabricating an amorphous carbon material for use as an electrode in an electrochemical device, said method comprising the steps of:
- Providing a multi-functional organic monomer having the structure:
- ##STR5## wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.3 are each a functional group, and are all selected from the group consisting of carboxylic acids of eight carbons or less, carboxylic esters of eight carbons or less, alcohols of eight carbons or less, carboxylic anhydrides of eight carbons or less, amines, and combinations thereof, and wherein at least one of R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.3 is different than the others;
- mixing said multi-functional organic monomer with operative amounts of an acidic catalyst;
- subjecting said mixture to a solid state carbonization process in an inert environmental, wherein said solid state carbonation process includes the step of heating said multi-functional organic monomers to a first temperature sufficient to condense said functional groups and heating said condensed multi-functional organic monomers to a second temperature sufficient to polymerize said monomers;
- comminuting the polymerized monomer;
- and
- heating the comminuting, polymerized monomer in the presence of a lithium containing compound selected from the group consisting of LiNO.sub.3, Li.sub.3 PO.sub.4, LiOH, Li.sub.2 SO.sub.4, Li.sub.2 CO.sub.3, lithium acetate, and combinations thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.