MANUFACTURE OF SILICON-CARBON ELECTRODES FOR ENERGY STORAGE DEVICES

1 . A method for fabricating an electrode for an energy storage device, the method comprising

heating a mixture of solvent and materials for use as energy storage media;

adding active material to the mixture;

adding dispersant to the mixture to provide a slurry;

coating a current collector with the slurry; and

calendering the coating of slurry on the current collector to provide the electrode.

2 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the energy storage media comprises silicon materials and nanocarbons.

3 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the energy storage media comprises high aspect ratio carbon elements.

4 . The method as in claim 3 , wherein length of a major dimension of the high aspect ratio carbon elements is at least one of: 5 times, 10 times, 100 times, 500 times, 1,000 times, 5,000 times, and 10,000 times a minor dimension thereof.

5 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the energy storage media comprises nanocarbon that includes a surface treatment thereof.

6 . The method as in claim 5 , wherein the surface treatment comprises addition of materials to promote adhesion of the active material to the nanocarbons.

7 . The method as in claim 5 , wherein the surface treatment comprises addition of at least one of a functional group including at least one of a carboxylic group, a hydroxylic group, an amine group, and a silane group.

8 . The method as in claim 5 , wherein the surface treatment is formed from at least one of a polymeric layer disposed on the nanocarbon and a lyophilized aqueous dispersion comprising nanocarbon and functionalizing material.

9 . The method as in claim 8 , wherein the functionalizing material comprises a surfactant.

10 . The method as in claim 8 , further comprising a pyrolized form of the polymeric layer.

11 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the active material comprises at least one of lithium cobalt oxide; lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide; lithium manganese oxide; lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide; lithium titanate oxide; lithium iron phosphate oxide; and lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide.

12 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein particles of the active material comprise a median particle size in the range of 0.1 micrometers to 50 micrometers or any subrange thereof.

13 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein mass loading of the active material mass is at least 20 mg/cm 2 , 30 mg/cm 2 , 40 mg/cm 2 , 50 mg/cm 2 , 60 mg/cm 2 , 70 mg/cm 2 , 80 mg/cm 2 , 90 mg/cm 2 , 100 mg/cm 2 or more.

14 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the dispersant comprises polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP).

15 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the dispersant comprises at least one of an aqueous binder, polyacrylic acid and sodium polyacrylate.

16 . The method as in claim 1 , further comprising sintering the coating of slurry.

17 . An electrode for an energy storage device, the electrode comprising

a coating of energy storage materials disposed onto a current collector, the coating including a suspension of carbon nanoform materials and active materials in a solvent with a dispersant.