CARBON ELECTRODES FOR ELECTROCHEMICAL APPLICATIONS

• Main Authors: PARK BENJAMIN Y, MADOU MARC J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 24.03.2011
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; ARTIFICIAL STONE; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CABLES; CEMENTS; CERAMICS; CHEMISTRY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF, e.g. MORTARS, CONCRETE OR LIKE BUILDINGMATERIALS; CONCRETE; CONDUCTORS; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROGRAPHY; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; HOLOGRAPHY; INSULATORS; LIME, MAGNESIA; MATERIALS THEREFOR; METALLURGY; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES; PHYSICS; PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSIONOF CHEMICAL INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY; REFRACTORIES; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING ORDIELECTRIC PROPERTIES; SLAG; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TREATMENT OF NATURAL STONE

Systems and methods are provided for producing high-surface-area three-dimensional electrodes for electrochemical applications. In one embodiment, sheets of precursor material are interleaved with sheets of a sacrificial material and then bonded to a base comprising a precursor material with a precursor bonding material. The precursor sheets, base and bonding material preferably formed from the same precursor material. The bonded structure is then pyrolyzed to create a lithium intercalating structure and remove the sacrificial material. In another embodiment, a reactive-ion etching process is used to pattern 3D structures into a sheet of precursor material. The 3D structure is then converted into a lithium intercalating structure through pyrolysis. In both embodiments, the components of the structure to be heat treated preferably comprise the same lithium intercalating precursor material. As a result, micro-scale high-aspect-ratio 3D electrode features having very fine structures can be patterned and created.