Patent ID: 8642214

Claim:
A process of forming an electrochemically active material, the process comprising: preparing a solution comprising: a silicon precursor or mixture of silicon precursors; and a monomer or mixture of monomers; polymerizing the monomer to form a polymer-silicon precursor matrix; and pyrolyzing the polymer-silicon precursor matrix to form an electrochemically active carbon-coated silicon material which is a compound of formula SiO 2 C or SiO x C, wherein x is less than 2 and greater than 0; wherein: the monomer or mixture of monomers comprises phenol, urea, benzene-1,3-diol, benzene-1,2-diol, benzene-1,4-diol, methylene phenyl diisocyanates, styrene, methyl methacrylate, vinyl chloride, vinyl fluoride, toluene diisocyanate, melamine, or formaldehyde.