Composite material comprising metal oxide particles and a carbon film, its manufacturing method, and a lithium secondary battery containing the same

Carbon-coated titanium oxide anode material with oxygen vacancy control via non-aqueous synthesis and non-oxygen heat treatment

This technology is a composite material manufacturing process that synthesizes metal oxide particles using a non-aqueous method, followed by a secondary heat treatment in a non-oxygen atmosphere to form a carbon film on the particle surface while precisely controlling the number of oxygen vacancies.

Metal oxide particles produced via conventional aqueous processes have limitations in particle size reduction, leading to long lithium-ion diffusion distances and suboptimal oxygen vacancies, which result in poor conductivity and reduced charge-discharge capacity.

This technology involves synthesizing metal oxide particles by performing a primary heat treatment on a base solution mixed with organic sources and liquid metal sources such as titanium alkoxide. It then undergoes a secondary heat treatment in a non-oxygen atmosphere at 500–700°C without adding external carbon, converting residual organic matter into a carbon film. Applicable to high-speed charging lithium secondary battery anodes and long-life energy storage system titanium oxide cells, it allows for custom design of oxygen vacancy density and charge-discharge capacity simply by adjusting the heat treatment temperature.

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Key Features:

• Preparing a base source solution by mixing an organic source containing carbon with a metal source in a liquid state
• Manufacturing metal oxide particles through a non-aqueous method involving primary heat treatment of the base source solution
• Manufacturing primary particles with a carbon film on the surface by performing secondary heat treatment on the metal oxide particles in a non-oxygen atmosphere
• Oxygen vacancies provided on the surface of the metal oxide particles adjacent to the carbon film, with the quantity controlled according to the secondary heat treatment temperature

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This invention was developed with support from the Samsung Science and Technology Foundation for research on developing high-capacity/fast-charging electrode materials using sequential gas-phase reactions.

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