Liquid silane-based compositions and methods for producing silicon-based materials

1. A method for synthesizing silicon nanofibers, comprising:

combining a liquid silane, a polymer and a solvent to form a viscous solution;

passing a stream of viscous solution through a high electric field to form fibers;

depositing the formed fibers onto a substrate; and

transforming the deposited fibers.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said liquid silane is a cyclosilane of the formula Si n H 2n selected from the group of cyclosilanes consisting of cyclopentasilane, cyclohexasilane and 1-silylcyclopentasilane.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said liquid silane is a linear or branched cyclosilane of the formula Si n H 2n+2 .

4. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said polymer is selected from the group of polymers consisting of poly(methyl methacrylate), polycarbonate, poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene), and polyvinyl butryal.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said solvent is selected from the group of solvents consisting of toluene, xylene, cyclooctane, 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, dichloromethane or mixtures thereof.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said substrate is selected from the group of substrates consisting of a carbon fiber matte, a metal foil, and a mandrel.

7. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the deposited fibers are transformed using thermal processing at temperatures from 150° C. to 300° C. to produce polysilane-containing materials.

8. The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the deposited fibers are transformed using thermal processing at temperatures from 300° C. to 850° C. to produce amorphous silicon-containing materials.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the deposited fibers are transformed using thermal processing at temperatures from 850° C. to 1414° C. to produce crystalline silicon-containing materials.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the deposited fibers are transformed using laser processing to give crystalline silicon-containing materials.

11. A method for synthesizing silicon nanofibers, comprising:

combining a liquid silane, a polymer, a solid phase and a solvent to form a viscous solution;

passing a stream of viscous solution through a high electric field to form fibers;

depositing the formed fibers onto a substrate; and

transforming the deposited fibers.

12. A method as recited in claim 11 , wherein said liquid silane is a cyclosilane of the formula Si n H 2n selected from the group of cyclosilanes consisting of cyclopentasilane, cyclohexasilane and 1-silylcyclopentasilane.

13. A method as recited in claim 11 , wherein said liquid silane is a linear or branched cyclosilane of the formula Si n H 2n+2 .

14. A method as recited in claim 11 , wherein said solid phase is a metallic particle selected from the group of metal particles consisting of metallic particles of Al, Au, Ag, Cu, In—Sn—O, fluorine-doped tin oxide and carbon black.

15. A method as recited in claim 11 , wherein said solid phase is a semiconducting particle selected from the group of semiconducting particles consisting of carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires, polydihydrosilane (Si n H 2 ) n , CdSe, CdTe, PbS, PbSe, ZnO and Si.

16. A method as recited in claim 11 , wherein said solid phase is a metal reagent selected from the group of metal reagents consisting of CaH 2 , CaBr 2 , Cp 2 Ti(CO) 2 , TiCl 4 , V(CO) 6 , Cr(CO) 6 , Cp 2 Cr, Mn 2 (CO) 10 , CpMn(CO) 3 , Fe(CO) 5 , Fe 2 (CO) 9 , Co 2 (CO) 8 , CO 4 (CO) 12 , Cp 2 Co, Cp 2 Ni, Ni(COD) 2 , BaH 2 , [Ru(CO) 4 ] ∞ , Os 3 (CO) 12 , Ru 3 (CO) 12 , HFeCo 3 (CO) 12 , and H 2 FeRu 3 (CO) 13 .

17. A method as recited in claim 11 , wherein said solid phase is a photoactive particle selected from the group of photoactive particles consisting of a carbon fullerene, a quantum dot of CdSe, PbS, Si or Ge, and a core-shell quantum dot of ZnSe/CdSe or Si/Ge.

18. A method as recited in claim 11 , further comprising:

coating the transformed fibers with a coherent, conductive coating.

19. A method as recited in claim 11 , wherein the coating is a coating selected from the group of coatings consisting of graphite, carbon black, KB Carbon, carbon nanotubes and graphene.

20. A method of making silicon-containing composite wires comprising:

combining a polymer and a solvent to form a viscous solution;

flowing liquid silane through the inner annulus of a coaxial delivery tube while flowing the viscous polymer solution through the outer annulus;

exposing the viscous mixture to a high electric field where continuous fibers are formed and deposited onto a substrate; and

transforming the deposited fibers into a composite material that contains on the inside a polysilane, an amorphous silicon and/or a crystalline silicon fraction and on the outside a carbon coating.

21. A method as recited in claim 20 , wherein the liquid silane flowing through the inner annulus is selected from the group of cyclosilanes consisting of Si 6 H 12 cyclohexasilane, Si 6 H 12 1-silyl-cyclopentasilane and Si 5 H 10 cyclopentasilane.

22. A method as recited in claim 20 , wherein the liquid silane flowing through the inner annulus is selected from the group of linear and branched silanes having the formula Si n H 2n+2 .

23. A method as recited in claim 20 , wherein the solution flowing through the outer annulus is polyacrylonitrile in dimethylformamide.

24. A method for making silicon-containing battery electrode composite, comprising:

combining a liquid silane of the formula Si n H 2n , with a polymer and a solvent to form a viscous solution;

expelling the viscous solution through a high electric field wherein continuous fibers are formed and deposited onto a metal foil substrate;

transforming the deposited fibers by thermal treatment under inert gas;

forming a coherent, ion conductive coating on the transformed fibers; and mixing

the coated silicon nanofibers with a binder and KB carbon to form an electrode.