Scalable Synthesis of Interconnected Porous Silicon/Carbon Composites by the Rochow Reaction as High-Performance Anodes of Lithium Ion Batteries

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2014-05, Vol.53 (20), p.5165-5169
• Main Authors: Zhang, Zailei, Wang, Yanhong, Ren, Wenfeng, Tan, Qiangqiang, Chen, Yunfa, Li, Hong, Zhong, Ziyi, Su, Fabing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: anode materials; Anodes; Carbon; Carbon - chemistry; Carbon-carbon composites; Catalysts; Chemical industry; Chemical synthesis; Composite materials; Copper; Electric Power Supplies; Electrodes; heterogeneous catalysis; Lithium; Lithium - chemistry; lithium storage; Lithium-ion batteries; Microparticles; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Monomers; Porous materials; porous nanostructures; Porous silicon; Rechargeable batteries; Silicon; Silicon - chemistry; Spectrum Analysis, Raman; Synthesis; X-Ray Diffraction
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201310412

Despite the promising application of porous Si‐based anodes in future Li ion batteries, the large‐scale synthesis of these materials is still a great challenge. A scalable synthesis of porous Si materials is presented by the Rochow reaction, which is commonly used to produce organosilane monomers for synthesizing organosilane products in chemical industry. Commercial Si microparticles reacted with gas CH3Cl over various Cu‐based catalyst particles to substantially create macropores within the unreacted Si accompanying with carbon deposition to generate porous Si/C composites. Taking advantage of the interconnected porous structure and conductive carbon‐coated layer after simple post treatment, these composites as anodes exhibit high reversible capacity and long cycle life. It is expected that by integrating the organosilane synthesis process and controlling reaction conditions, the manufacture of porous Si‐based anodes on an industrial scale is highly possible. Digging pores: A scalable synthesis route was developed to prepare interconnected porous Si/C composites by the commercialized Rochow reaction using Si microparticles and CH3Cl gas over the various Cu‐based catalysts under the mild reaction conditions. The obtained porous Si/C materials as anodes of Li ion batteries exhibit high electrochemical performance.