Background
At present, the cathode material of the commercial lithium ion battery is mainly a graphite cathode material, however, with the improvement of the requirement of the electric automobile and the large-scale equipment on the energy density of the battery, the graphite cathode material cannot meet the actual requirement due to the low theoretical capacity (372mAh/g), and therefore, the development of the cathode material with high energy density is urgently needed.
Silicon is considered to have the potential of replacing graphite cathode materials in the next generation due to the fact that the silicon has high theoretical capacity (4200mAh/g) and lower lithium extraction potential (< 0.05V), the voltage platform is slightly higher than that of graphite, lithium extraction on the silicon surface is difficult to cause during charging and discharging, and safety performance is better. However, silicon also has problems when used as a negative electrode material of a lithium ion battery, and during the charge and discharge cycle, lithium ion intercalation and deintercalation can cause the volume of the material to expand and contract by 300%, and the generated mechanical stress can cause the material to be gradually pulverized and the structure to collapse, so that an active substance is finally dropped on a current collector, and the cycle performance of the lithium ion battery is greatly reduced. In addition, since silicon is a semiconductor material, poor conductivity further limits the application of silicon to lithium ion battery negative electrode materials. Therefore, a host material capable of not only increasing the conductivity of the material but also suppressing the volume expansion of the silicon material, thereby improving the electrochemical performance, is urgently needed to be found.
Graphene is considered as a star material due to the unique flexible two-dimensional planar structure, ultrahigh conductivity and specific surface area, so that the graphene and nano silicon are compounded to form the graphene/nano silicon composite material, the volume expansion of the nano silicon in the charging and discharging process can be relieved, the conductivity of the material can be improved, and the electrochemical performance of the material can be improved.
However, most of the methods for preparing graphene/nano silicon composite materials disclosed in the prior art adopt a process of preparing graphene and then compounding the graphene with silicon materials, which results in high cost and is not suitable for industrialization. Huang et al (Journal of physical chemistry Letters,2012,3(13):1824) use atomization method to prepare graphene and silicon aerosol, and prepare core-shell structured folded graphene and silicon composite material through pretreatment and calcination, wherein the composite material has no specific capacity decay phenomenon after 200 weeks of circulation in a button cell. Guo (chemical communications,2012,48(16):2198-200) adopts freeze drying and thermal reduction methods to prepare silicon-carbon composite materials in which nano-silicon is embedded on graphene nano-sheets.
Chinese patent CN201510252804.5 discloses a preparation method of graphene-based silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material, which comprises the following steps: the preparation method comprises the steps of firstly preparing three-dimensional graphene particles, and then depositing nano-silicon on the surface of graphene by a deposition method, so that the process is complex, the cost is high, and the deposited nano-silicon is easy to agglomerate in the sintering process, so that the cycle performance of the electrode material is reduced.
Chinese patent CN201710544133.9 discloses a preparation method of a graphene-silicon carbon lithium ion battery cathode material, which comprises the following steps: graphene coating of nano silicon particles, carbon coating of the primary composite material, carbonization and mixing; however, the graphene and silicon sand milling process of the method is easy to cause silicon to be oxidized into silicon dioxide, so that the capacity of the silicon-based composite material is reduced.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of the defects of the prior art, one of the purposes of the present invention is to provide a preparation method of a silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material, which can realize uniform coating of a nano silicon material while preparing graphene.
In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:
a preparation method of a silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material comprises the following steps:
dispersing a graphene precursor, a blowing agent, graphite and nano silicon into a solvent, uniformly mixing, and drying to obtain a solid material;
compacting the solid material obtained in the step one into a green body by using film pressing forming equipment;
and step three, carrying out heat treatment on the blank obtained in the step two in a protective gas atmosphere, and then sintering at high temperature to obtain the silicon-carbon composite anode material.
Preferably, the blank obtained in the step two is placed in sintering equipment, the temperature is firstly raised to 150-180 ℃ in the protective gas atmosphere, the temperature is kept for 2-5 h, then the temperature is continuously raised to 800-1800 ℃ for sintering, the sintering time is 1-5 h, and the silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material is obtained after natural cooling to the room temperature.
Preferably, in the first step, the weight ratio of the graphene precursor to the blowing agent to the graphite to the nano-silicon is (1-1.8): (7-18): (0.5-1.5): (5-12); more preferably (1-1.5): (7-15): (0.5-1): (5-10), particularly preferably (1-1.5): (5-10): (0.5-0.8): (7-9).
Preferably, the graphene precursor is a combination of 1 or more than 2 of sucrose, glucose, starch or asphalt, and further preferably glucose or asphalt;
preferably, the asphalt is 1 or a combination of more than 2 of high-temperature asphalt, emulsified asphalt or low-temperature asphalt.
Preferably, the graphite is artificial graphite, microcrystalline graphite or natural graphite 1 or 2 or more, more preferably natural graphite, and the shape of the graphite is 1 of flake, sphere or sphere.
Preferably, the median particle diameter (D) of the graphite50) 8 to 18 μm, for example, 8 μm, 9 μm, 10 μm, 11 μm, 12 μm, 14 μm, 16 μm, 17 μm, 17.5 μm, 17.8 μm or 17.9 μm, etc., more preferably 8 to 12 μm, and particularly preferably 10 to 12 μm.
Preferably, in the first step, the blowing agent is 1 or a combination of more than 2 of ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate, ammonium carbonate or ammonium bicarbonate.
Preferably, in the step one, the solvent is deionized water, alcohols, ethers, alkanes, ketones, aromatics, and more preferably 1 or a combination of 2 or more of methanol, ethanol, N-butanol, ethylene glycol, isopropanol, acetone, N-methylpyrrolidone, N-hexane, cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, xylene, styrene, dichloromethane, trichloroethylene ethanol, dimethylformamide, dimethylsulfoxide, and tetrahydrofuran.
Preferably, the nano-silicon has a median particle diameter (D)50) 5 to 170nm, for example, 5nm, 10nm, 20nm, 42nm, 66nm, 80nm, 100nm, 120nm, 130nm, 140nm, 155nm, 165nm or 169nm, more preferably 30 to 130nm, particularly preferably 50 to 80 nm.
Preferably, the drying method in the step one may be a drying method conventional in the art, and further preferably 1 of freeze drying, vacuum drying and spray drying;
preferably, the drying temperature is 60-100 ℃, more preferably 60-90 ℃, and particularly preferably 70-80 ℃.
Preferably, the pressure of the film pressing forming equipment in the second step is 7-50 mPa, more preferably 8-20 mPa, and particularly preferably 8-10 mPa;
the research of the invention shows that the pressure of the compacted green body has great influence on the final composite material, the composite material is compacted due to overlarge pressure, and the graphene precursor in a molten state cannot flow around in the sintering process, so that the surfaces of nano-silicon and graphite in the composite material cannot be uniformly coated;
preferably, the pressure maintaining time of the film pressing forming equipment in the second step is 1-10 min, more preferably 2-8 min, and particularly preferably 3-6 min;
preferably, the sintering process in the third step is performed under a protective atmosphere, wherein the protective atmosphere is nitrogen or argon;
preferably, the temperature rise rate of the heating process in the third step is 0.5-10 ℃/min, more preferably 2-8 ℃/min, and particularly preferably 3-6 ℃/min.
Preferably, the temperature of the heat treatment process in the third step is 160-180 ℃;
preferably, the heat preservation time of the heat treatment process in the third step is 3-5 h;
preferably, the temperature rise rate of the temperature rise in the third step until the sintering process is 0.5-10 ℃/min, more preferably 2-8 ℃/min, and particularly preferably 3-6 ℃/min.
Preferably, the sintering temperature in the sintering process in the third step is 900-1200 ℃, and further preferably 900-1100 ℃;
preferably, the sintering time in the sintering process in the third step is 2-5 h, and further preferably 2-4 h;
preferably, the preparation method of the silicon-carbon composite anode material comprises the following steps:
adding a graphene precursor and a blowing agent into a solvent, stirring and mixing to form a uniform solution, then adding graphite and nano-silicon into the solution, uniformly mixing, and drying to obtain a mixed material;
compacting the mixed material obtained in the step one by using film pressing forming equipment to obtain a blank;
and step three, placing the blank obtained in the step one in a sintering furnace, firstly heating to 150-180 ℃ at a heating rate of 0.5-10 ℃/min under the atmosphere of protective gas, keeping the temperature for 2-5 h, then continuously heating to 800-1800 ℃ at a heating rate of 0.5-10 ℃/min for sintering, wherein the sintering time is 1-5 h, and naturally cooling to room temperature to obtain the silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material.
Uniformly mixing a graphene precursor, a blowing agent, graphite and a nano-silicon liquid phase, and drying to obtain a mixed material, wherein in the mixed material, the graphene precursor is coated on the surfaces of the nano-silicon and the graphite, and the blowing agent is dispersed in each material; compacting the mixed material by using a film pressing forming device to obtain a blank; the process of compacting the mixed material into a green body helps to: a. the blowing agent in the blank body is in surface-to-surface contact with the graphene precursor, so that the pressure generated when the blowing agent is decomposed in the subsequent high-temperature sintering process is utilized to the maximum extent, and the graphene precursor coated with the nano silicon is stripped in situ; b. the blowing agent can be uniformly dispersed on the surface or the inner layer of the graphene precursor; c. the nano silicon is uniformly dispersed on the surface of the graphene and between graphene sheets in situ to avoid oxidation; d. the nano silicon is prevented from agglomerating in the sintering stage; finally, carrying out heat treatment and high-temperature sintering on the blank to obtain the silicon-carbon composite anode material; the sintering process is a key process for preparing graphene, the graphene precursor is in a molten state in the first-stage heat treatment process, the bond energy between molecules is minimum and the distance between molecules is maximum, meanwhile, the molecular layer in the molten state can be pulled open by gas pressure generated in the decomposition process of the blowing agent at the temperature to prepare a single-layer molecular layer, the molecular layer is gradually carbonized to graphitize along with the rise of the temperature in the second stage, and finally the graphene is prepared.
It should be noted that the temperature of the first stage heat treatment process in the sintering process must be based on the softening point temperature of the graphene precursor material and the decomposition temperature of the blowing agent, for example, the softening point temperature of the graphene precursor glucose is 110 ℃, the decomposition temperature of the blowing agent ammonium nitrate is 120 ℃, the temperature of the first stage heat treatment process needs to be set at 120-130 ℃, and the holding temperature of the second stage sintering process is preferably set at 1000 ℃ or above, so as to facilitate the graphitization of the amorphous carbon.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a silicon-carbon composite material prepared by the above method, wherein the composite material has a core-shell structure, wherein the core is formed by compounding graphite and nano-silicon coated on the surface of the graphite, and the shell is formed by graphene and nano-silicon uniformly dispersed between graphene sheets; fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of the silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material of the present invention.
Preferably, the content of the nano-silicon distributed on the graphite surface is lower than 50%, and the content of the nano-silicon embedded between graphene sheets is higher than 50%, so that the distribution mode can obviously improve the conductivity of the composite material and reduce the volume expansion effect of the nano-silicon material in the charging and discharging processes.
Preferably, the content of nano silicon in the silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material is 3-25 wt%, the content of graphene is 1-10 wt%, and the content of graphite is 20-70 wt%.
Preferably, the graphene in the silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material is prepared by carrying out heat treatment on a graphene precursor;
preferably, the silicon-carbon composite anode material has a median particle diameter (D)50) 8 to 20 μm, for example, 8 μm, 9 μm, 10 μm, 11 μm, 12 μm, 14 μm, 16 μm, 18 μm, 19.5 μm, 19.7 μm or 19.9 μm, and more preferably 13 to 15 μm;
preferably, the specific surface area of the silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material is 1-20 m2(ii) g, more preferably 1 to 12m2A specific preferred range is 1 to 3m2/g;
The invention also aims to provide a lithium ion battery, which comprises the silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material prepared by the preparation method.
Advantageous effects
Compared with the prior art, the method has the advantages that,
(1) the preparation method realizes the synchronization and integration of the preparation of the graphene and the silicon material coating process (namely, the silicon material is uniformly coated while the graphene is prepared), and compared with the existing method for preparing the graphene and then coating the silicon material, the preparation method has the advantages of simpler preparation process, no need of reagents such as sulfuric acid and potassium permanganate, environmental friendliness, low cost and suitability for industrialization.
(2) According to the preparation method, the green body is obtained by adopting compaction equipment, the silicon-coated graphene precursor is stripped in situ by pressure generated when a bubbling agent is decomposed to generate gas in the green body in the first-stage heat treatment process, so that the nano silicon is always in the inner layer of the graphene and cannot agglomerate due to high-temperature sintering, the nano silicon material can be uniformly dispersed among graphene sheet layers, the graphene has good mechanical property and electrical conductivity and can effectively relieve the deformation stress of silicon, and the excellent electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity provide rapid electronic conduction and thermal evacuation, so that the silicon-carbon composite negative electrode material obtained by the preparation method has high specific capacity and excellent cycling stability, the charging specific capacity under the current density of 1C is 625.35mAh/g, and the capacity retention rate of 300 cycles is 85.01%.