Patent ID: 8889295

Claim:
A porous composite comprising: a plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites, wherein each of the nanocomposites comprises: a plurality of dendritic particles, wherein the dendritic particles comprise a three-dimensional, randomly-ordered assembly of nanoparticles of carbon; a plurality of discrete non-porous nanoparticles of silicon disposed on the outer surface of the dendritic particle; an electrically conductive material joining the nanocomposites together, wherein at least a portion of the nanocomposites are in electrical communication with each other through the electrically conductive material; and a lithium ion permeable layer disposed on at least a portion of the surface of the joined nanocomposites and forming a total pore volume within the porous composite that has a range of about 1.5 to about 20 times the volume occupied by all of the nanoparticles in the porous composite.