Nanotube synthesis by thermal plasma for lithium-ion batteries / synthèse de nanotubes par plasma thermique pour piles lithium-ion

单壁碳纳米管(SWCNTs)具有优异的物理化学性质，可应用于从轻质交通材料到其他功能材料的新型催化载体等诸多领域。在舍布洛克大学、L L水化学研究所的合作下，最近重新设计并启动了一套新的50kW感应热等离子体系统，用于连续批量生产单壁碳纳米管以及其他类型的纳米管，如硅纳米管(SiNTs)和Li4Ti5O12纳米管，通过改善电极的性能，特别是阳极的性能，使锂离子电池(LIB)更强大。纳米管的合成过程是基于原料的蒸发，通过使用射频等离子体炬作为热源来激活参与形成单壁碳纳米管的前体物种的生成。在过去的4年里，UdeS与其他合作伙伴成功地证明了利用射频感应耦合等离子体反应器可以连续合成30%以上的单壁碳纳米管，而成本只是传统技术的一小部分。然而，为了实现工业应用，精确控制纳米结构以及直接改变其化学性质的实用方法基本上需要专门针对其功能性能进行定制。在该项目中，建议开发一种经济上可行的反应堆，能够每天生产至少一公斤产品材料，其中包括单壁碳纳米管、硅纳米管和Li4Ti5O12纳米管，其浓度至少为95%。这一目标只有通过优化送粉器的进料速度，升级数据采集系统，控制系统的质量平衡，表征不同类型的反应物与每种类型的纳米管的金属催化剂的混合物，最后通过原位和后处理处理提纯包含材料的纳米管用于LIBS才能实现。

Excellent physicochemical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) make them good candidates for many applications ranging from lightweight materials for transportations to new catalytic supports for other functional materials. In a collaborative effort between the Université de Sherbooke (UdeS), l'Institut de recherche de l'Hydro-Québec (IREQ)., a new 50-kW induction thermal plasma system has been recently redesigned and started up for the mass production of SWCNTs as well as other type of nanotubes such as silicon nanotubes (SiNTs) and Li4Ti5O12 nanotube in a continuous manner to make the Li-ions batteries (LIBs) more powerful by improving the performance of the electrodes particularly the anode. The nanotube synthesis process is based on the evaporation of the raw feedstock materials by using a radio frequency (RF) plasma torch as a heat source to activate generation of the precursor species involved in the formation of SWCNTs. In the last 4 years, UdeS with others partners has successfully demonstrated that the SWCNT can be continuously synthesized at a purity level of above 30 % using RF inductively coupled plasma reactor with a fraction of the cost of conventional technologies.To realize the industrial applications, however, practical methods for the precise control of nanostructure as well as direct modification of their chemical properties are essentially required to tailor their functional performance specifically. In this project, it is proposed to develop an economically viable reactor capable of producing a minimum of one kilogram of product material per day, containing SWCNTs, SiNTs and Li4Ti5O12 nanotube with a concentration of at least 95 weight-percent. This goal will only be realized through optimizing the feeding rate of the powder feeder, upgrading the data acquisition system, controlling the mass balance of the system, characterizing different types of the reactant mixtures with the metal catalysts for each type of nanotubes and finally purifying the nanotube containing materials by an in-situ and post-processing treatments to be used in LIBs.