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US 9,517,939 B2Granted
Method of enhancing the connectivity of a colloidal template, and a highly interconnected porous structure
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
InventorsPaul V. Braun, Hui Gang Zhang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of enhancing the connectivity of a colloidal template includes providing a lattice of microparticles, where the microparticles are in contact with adjacent microparticles at contact regions therebetween, and exposing the lattice to a solution comprising a solvent and a precursor material. The solvent is removed from the solution, and the precursor material moves to the contact regions. A ring is formed from the precursor material around each of the contact regions, thereby creating interconnects between adjacent microparticles and enhancing the connectivity of the lattice.
Claims18
A method of forming a conductive porous structure, the method comprising:
- forming a lattice of microparticles from a suspension of microparticles by self-assembly and drying, the microparticles of the lattice being in contact with adjacent microparticles of the lattice at contact regions therebetween;
- after forming the lattice of microparticles by self-assembly and drying, annealing the lattice to strengthen the contact between adjacent microparticles, thereby forming an annealed lattice of microparticles;
- after the annealing, exposing the annealed lattice to a solution comprising a solvent and a precursor material;
- removing the solvent from the solution, the precursor material moving to the contact regions;
- after removing the solvent, curing the precursor material to form a ring comprising a polymer around each of the contact regions, thereby creating interconnects between adjacent microparticles of the annealed lattice and enhancing the connectivity of the annealed lattice;
- after forming the ring around each of the contact regions, heating the rings at a temperature of from about 200° C. to about 500° C. to transform the rings into calcined rings comprising SiO2;
- after heating the rings, infilling the annealed lattice with a conductive material, the conductive material coating the microparticles of the annealed lattice and the interconnects;
- and
- after the infilling, removing the microparticles of the annealed lattice and the interconnects to obtain a monolithic porous structure comprising the conductive material and including (a) voids defined by the microparticles and (b) necks between the voids defined by the interconnects.
6 more elements
A method of forming a conductive porous structure, the method comprising:
- forming a lattice of microparticles from a suspension of microparticles by self-assembly and drying, the microparticles of the lattice being in contact with adjacent microparticles of the lattice at contact regions therebetween;
- after forming the lattice of microparticles by self-assembly and drying, annealing the lattice to strengthen the contact between adjacent microparticles, thereby forming an annealed lattice of microparticles;
- after the annealing, exposing the annealed lattice to a solution comprising a solvent and a precursor material;
- removing the solvent from the solution, the precursor material moving to the contact regions;
- after removing the solvent, curing the precursor material to form a ring comprising a polymer around each of the contact regions, thereby creating interconnects between adjacent microparticles of the annealed lattice and enhancing the connectivity of the annealed lattice;
- after forming the ring around each of the contact regions, infilling the annealed lattice with a conductive material, the conductive material coating the microparticles of the annealed lattice and the interconnects;
- after the infilling, removing the microparticles of the annealed lattice and the interconnects to obtain a monolithic porous structure comprising the conductive material and including (a) voids defined by the microparticles and (b) necks between the voids defined by the interconnects;
- and
- after removing the microparticles, depositing an electrochemically active material on the monolithic porous structure, thereby forming a porous battery electrode.
6 more elements
A method of forming a conductive porous structure, the method comprising:
- forming a lattice of microparticles from a suspension of microparticles by self-assembly and drying, the microparticles of the lattice being in contact with adjacent microparticles of the lattice at contact regions therebetween;
- after forming the lattice of microparticles by self-assembly and drying, annealing the lattice to strengthen the contact between adjacent microparticles, thereby forming an annealed lattice of microparticles;
- after the annealing, exposing the annealed lattice to a solution comprising a solvent and a precursor material;
- removing the solvent from the solution, the precursor material moving to the contact regions;
- after removing the solvent, curing the precursor material to form a ring comprising a polymer around each of the contact regions, thereby creating interconnects between adjacent microparticles of the annealed lattice and enhancing the connectivity of the annealed lattice;
- after forming the ring around each of the contact regions, infilling the annealed lattice with a conductive material, the conductive material coating the microparticles of the annealed lattice and the interconnects;
- after the infilling, removing the microparticles of the annealed lattice and the interconnects to obtain a monolithic porous structure comprising the conductive material and including (a) voids defined by the microparticles and (b) necks between the voids defined by the interconnects;
- and
- after removing the microparticles, chemically transforming the conductive material to comprise an electrochemically active material, thereby forming a porous battery electrode.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.