A sodium supplement material, a preparation method thereof, positive electrode plate, and sodium-ion battery. The sodium supplement material includes a sodium supplement agent body and first particles exposed on the surface of the sodium supplement agent body. In any 300 nm200 nm region on the surface of the sodium supplement material, the number of first particles ranges from 2 to 20. The first particles include one or more conductive agent particles and one or more catalyst particles.

Gas-solid reactors and related methods for producing anode materials. The reactor designs producing highly efficient gas-solids contact and therefore are suitable for providing access of a gaseous, silicon-containing precursor to the void spaces within a porous scaffold, for example a carbon exhibiting a pore volume, to produce a silicon-carbon composite material.

An anode material for a high-capacity sodium-ion battery, a preparation method thereof, and a battery are provided. The anode material comprises a porous carbon layer, in which a plurality of micropores are provided, the micropores of the porous carbon layer are filled with graphitic-layer-like carbon crystallites. The preparation method thereof comprises the steps of template-method-based deposition preparation of a porous carbon layer and heat treatment preparation of graphitic-layer-like carbon crystallites, etc. The anode material for a high-capacity sodium-ion battery, the preparation method thereof, and the battery have the characteristics of a large sodium storage capacity, a high initial Coulombic efficiency, a good cycle performance and an excellent rate performance.

A highly scalable process has been developed for stabilizing large quantities of the zeta-polymorph of V.sub.2O.sub.5, a metastable kinetically trapped phase, with high compositional and phase purity. The process utilizes a beta-CuxV.sub.2O.sub.5 precursor which is synthetized from solution using all-soluble precursors. The copper can be leached from this structure by a room temperature post-synthetic route to stabilize an empty tunnel framework entirely devoid of intercalating cations. The metastable -V.sub.2O.sub.5 thus stabilized can be used as a monovalent-(Li, Na) or multivalent-(Mg, Ca, Al) ion battery cathode material.

A powder of carbonaceous matrix particles with silicon-based sub-particles dispersed therein, wherein the particles have a harmonic mean value of their average Vickers hardness value and their average elastic modulus value, both values of hardness and elasticity being measured by nanoindentation and expressed in MPa, being superior or equal to 7000 MPa and inferior or equal to 20000 MPa.

A cathode material, including a core and a first carbon layer. The first carbon layer is a multi-carbon intercalated layer including a main skeleton carbon and a modified carbon, the main skeleton carbon is bonded to a surface of the core, and the modified carbon grows within the main skeleton carbon in an intercalated manner. In this way, the generation of pores is reduced, making the porosity of the multi-carbon intercalated layer lower than the porosity of the existing in-situ carbon coating layer. The pore structure in the multi-carbon intercalated layer is reduced, such that the time for the solvent to infiltrate the pores during the slurry preparation process is shortened, and the volume of solvent required to infiltrate the pores is reduced. This is beneficial to reduce the generation of slurry bubbles, making it easy to prepare a slurry with good rheology and uniformity.

Powder comprising multiple porous graphene balls as a cathode active material for an alkali metal-sulfur battery, wherein a graphene balls has a diameter from 100 nm to 20 m and comprises (i) pores and pore walls therein and (ii) sulfur or metal polysulfide residing in the pores or supported by the pore walls, and wherein (a) the pore walls comprise a plurality of graphene sheets or planes, each having a wall thickness from 0.34 nm to 100 nm, wherein preferably a plurality of graphene sheets or planes are bonded by or integral with a disordered carbon phase; and (b) the sulfur or metal polysulfide is in a form of particles or coating having a diameter or thickness from 0.5 nm to 10 m, in physical contact with the graphene sheets or planes, and in an amount of 0.1% to 95% of the total particulate weight.

Provided are a powder mass and a production process, the powder mass comprising multiple porous graphene balls for use in a lithium-ion or sodium-ion battery, wherein at least one of the graphene balls has a diameter from 100 nm to 20 m and comprises (i) pores and pore walls therein, pore walls having a thickness from approximately 0.34 nm to 100 nm, and (ii) an anode active material residing in the pores or supported by the pore walls, and wherein (a) at least one of the pore walls comprises graphene domains dispersed in a disordered or amorphous carbon phase and a domain consists essentially of 1-100 graphene planes; and (b) the anode active material is in a form of particles or coating having a diameter or thickness from 0.5 nm to 10 m, and in an amount of 0.1% to 95% of the total particulate weight.

The invention relates to a process for preparing composite particles, the process comprising contacting the plurality of particles in the reaction zone with a gas comprising at least 25 vol % of a silicon-containing precursor at a temperature effective to cause deposition of silicon in the pores of the porous particles. A controlled temperature differential between the maximum temperature of the internal surfaces of the reaction zone and the simultaneous minimum temperature within the plurality of porous particles is maintained during the contacting step.

A silicon-carbon negative electrode material includes a core and a shell. The core includes a porous carbon skeleton and silicon dispersed in pores of the porous carbon skeleton. Carbon nanotubes are dispersed within the porous carbon skeleton. In the silicon-carbon negative electrode material, the content of silicon elements in the silicon-carbon negative electrode material is 25 wt % to 55 wt %. The shell includes a carbon material. In a linear scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum of a cross section of the silicon-carbon negative electrode material, the standard deviation of content changes of the silicon elements from the center to the edge of the cross section does not exceed 200.