Process for producing porous graphene particulate-protected anode active materials for lithium batteries

1. A process for producing multiple porous graphene particulates for a lithium battery anode, said process comprising:

(a) preparing a graphene dispersion having multiple primary particles of an anode active material and multiple sheets of a starting graphene material dispersed in a liquid medium, wherein said starting graphene material is selected from a pristine graphene, graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof and wherein said dispersion contains a blowing agent having a blowing agent-to-graphene material weight ratio from 0.01/1.0 to 1.0/1.0;

(b) dispensing, forming and drying said graphene dispersion into multiple droplets containing therein graphene sheets, particles of said anode active material, and said blowing agent;

(c) heat treating the droplets at a heat treatment temperature selected from 80° C. to 3,200° C. at a desired heating rate sufficient to induce volatile gas molecules from non-carbon elements or to activate said blowing agent for producing said multiple porous graphene particulates; and

(d) coating said multiple porous graphene particulates with a thin encapsulating layer of a polymer composite containing a carbonaceous or graphitic material dispersed in or bonded by a polymer to form polymer composite-encapsulated porous graphene particulates;

(e) heat-treating said polymer composite-encapsulated porous graphene particulates to obtain carbon- or carbon composite-encapsulated porous graphene particulates.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein said anode active material is selected from the group consisting of: (a) silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), zinc (Zn), aluminum (Al), titanium (Ti), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and cadmium (Cd); (b) alloys or intermetallic compounds of Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Zn, Al, Ti, Ni, Co, or Cd with other elements; (c) oxides, carbides, nitrides, sulfides, phosphides, selenides, and tellurides of Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Zn, Al, Ti, Fe, Ni, Co, V, or Cd, and their mixtures, composites, or lithium-containing composites; (d) salts and hydroxides of Sn; (e) lithium titanate, lithium manganate, lithium aluminate, lithium-containing titanium oxide, lithium transition metal oxide; (f) prelithiated versions thereof; (g) particles of Li, Li alloy, or surface-stabilized Li; and (h) combinations thereof.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein said graphene material contains pristine graphene and said dispersion contains a blowing agent having a blowing agent-to-pristine graphene weight ratio from 0.01/1.0 to 1.0/1.0.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein said blowing agent is a physical blowing agent, a chemical blowing agent, a mixture thereof, a dissolution-and-leaching agent, or a mechanically introduced blowing agent.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein said step of dispensing, forming and drying includes operating a procedure selected from pan-coating, air-suspension coating, centrifugal extrusion, vibration-nozzle encapsulation, spray-drying, coacervation-phase separation, interfacial polycondensation and interfacial cross-linking, in-situ polymerization, matrix polymerization, or a combination thereof.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein said dispersion further comprises a polymer dissolved or dispersed in said liquid medium and the polymer-to-graphene weight ratio is from 1/100 to 100/1.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein said graphene material is selected from the group of non-pristine graphene materials consisting of graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, and combinations thereof, and wherein the heat treatment temperature for the heat treating of the droplets is less than 2,500° C. and said porous graphene particulate contains a content of non-carbon elements from 0.01% to 2.0% by weight.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the heat treatment temperature for the heat treating of the droplets is selected from 100° C. to 1,500° C.

9. A process for producing multiple porous graphene particulates for a lithium battery anode, said process comprising: (A) preparing a graphene dispersion having multiple primary particles of an anode active material and multiple sheets of a graphene material dispersed in a liquid medium, wherein the graphene material is selected from graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof and wherein the graphene material contains a non-carbon element proportion of from 20% to 55% by weight of the graphene material; (B) dispensing, forming and drying the graphene dispersion into multiple droplets containing therein graphene sheets and particles of the anode active material; (C) heat treating the droplets at a heat treatment temperature selected from 80° C. to 3,200° C. for a desired heat treatment time to induce volatile gas molecules from the non-carbon elements for producing the multiple porous graphene particulates; and (D) coating said multiple porous graphene particulates with a thin encapsulating layer of a polymer composite containing a carbonaceous or graphitic material dispersed in a polymer to form polymer composite-encapsulated porous graphene particulates.

10. The process of claim 9 , wherein said dispersion further comprises a polymer dissolved or dispersed in said liquid medium and the polymer-to-graphene weight ratio is from 1/100 to 100/1.

11. The process of claim 9 , further comprising a step of heat-treating said polymer composite-encapsulated porous graphene particulates to obtain carbon- or carbon composite-encapsulated porous graphene particulates.

12. The process of claim 9 , wherein said heat treatment temperature is selected from 100° C. to 1,500° C.

13. The process of claim 9 , wherein said step of dispensing, forming and drying includes operating a procedure selected from pan-coating, air-suspension coating, centrifugal extrusion, vibration-nozzle encapsulation, spray-drying, coacervation-phase separation, interfacial polycondensation and interfacial cross-linking, in-situ polymerization, matrix polymerization, or a combination thereof.