Carbon fabric as a current collector for electroless-plated Cu6Sn5 negative electrode for lithium-ion batteries

A carbon fabric carrying a three-dimensional rigid structure and void spaces is utilized as a current collector for a copper-tin alloy (Cu6Sn5) negative electrode in lithium-ion batteries. A core (carbon fabric)/shell (Cu6Sn5) type electrode is prepared, without any passive component (conductive carbon and polymer binder) loading, by using electroless-plating method. The specific capacity of the resulting electrode, which is calculated on the basis of the total electrode weight, is 1.7 times larger than that obtained from the conventional-type electrode that is prepared by slurry coating of Cu6Sn5 powder on a Cu foil along with the passive components. The higher specific capacity of the former is resulted from the lithium storage ability of the carbon fabric by itself and the absence of passive components. The other beneficial feature offered by the carbon fabric current collector is negligible electrode swelling, which is possible because the spacious voids in the carbon fabric can accommodate the volume expansion of Cu6Sn5 component.