The natural graphite particles A and heat-treated graphite particles B at 1800 ℃ after pitch-coating were used as the anode base materials for lithium ion secondary battery. In order to improve the performance of anode materials, the base anode materials were treated with various acids. With the acid treatments of 62% HNO3 and 95% H2SO4 aqueous solution, the specific surface area and electrical conductivity of base anode materials were increased, and the initial charge-discharge capacity and cycle performance were improved due to the elimination of structural defects.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were prepared by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) using various combination of binary catalysts and methane precursor. The maximum yield (10.3 %) of CNTs was obtained using a methane-hydrogen-nitrogen mixture with volume ratio of 1:1:2 at 1000 W of microwave power. As the microwave power increased up to 1000 W, the deposition yield of CNTs raised from 4.1 % to 10. 3 %. However, the prepared CNTs at 800 W showed the more crystalline structure than those prepared at 1000 W. The prepared CNTs over different binary catalysts had various structural conformations such as aligned cylinder, bamboo, and nanofibers. The Id/Ig value of CNTs overFe-Fe/Al2O3, Co-Co/Al2O3, and Co-Cu/Al2O3 were in the range of 0.89~0.93. Among the various binary catalysts used, Fe-Co./Al2O3 showed the highest yield.

Although the structure of carbon nanotubes is important factor characterizing its properties, it is very difficult to control the structure of carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and to predict the range of their diameter, which is the primary factor of MWNTs' physical properties. We tried to control the diameter of MWNTsby governing the feed injection temperature of floating catalyst method. The structure of MWNTs was influenced by the phase change of ferrocene fed as the catalyst,. The carbon nanotubes were very narrow at injection temperatures close to the sublimation pt. of ferrocene, in which most MWNTs had diameters in the range of 20~30 nm. At injection temperatures between the boiling pt. and melting pt. of ferrocene, the diameters became larger and had broad distribution. However, at injection temperatures higher than the boiling pt., the diameters became narrow again and had very uniform distribution.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were prepared by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) using various combination of binary catalysts with four transition metals such as Fe, Co, Cu, and Ni. In the preparation of CNTs from acetylene precursor by thermal CVD, the CNTs with very high yield of 43.6 % was produced over Fe-Co/Al2O3. The highest yield of CNTs was obtained with the catalyst reduced for 3 hr and the yield was decreased with increasing reduction time to 5 hr, due to the formation of FeAl2O4 metal-aluminate. On the other hand, the CNTs prepared by acethylene plasma CVD had more straight, smaller diameter, and larger aspect ratio(L/D) than those prepared by thermal CVD, although their yield had lower value of 27.7%. The degree of graphitization of CNTs measured by Id/Ig value and thermal degradation temperature were 1.04 and 602℃, respectively.

Electrical properties of carbon filler/PVdF [poly(vinylidene fluoride)] composite were investigated as a funtion of carbon filler/PVdF ratio in the range of 0.2~0.5. Three kinds of comercialzied conductive carbon blacks such as Hiblack 41Y, KE300J, and KE600J, and carbon nanofibers prepared by the catalytic chemical vapor deposition of C2H4 over Ni-Cu catalysts were used as the carbon fillers. The electrical conductivity of carbon filler/PVdF composites were in the range of 0.65 to 13.5 S/cm depending the fillers' electrical conductivity ranging from 5.6 to 23.1 S/cm. Among the carbon fillers used, the KE600J carbon black showed the highest conductivity both in the composite and filler itself because of its high degree of graphitization due to the high-temperature thermal treatment and its high surface area due to the activation treatment.

In order to improve the lithium ion battery's performance, the carbon nanofibers were introduced to the anode electrode fabricated with natural graphite particles. The influence of structural adjustment of the particles by the introduction method of carbon nanofibers and the content of carbon nanofibers on the electrical property and charge/discharge characteristics of the electrode were investigated. The electrode fabricated with the mixture of 10 wt% of carbon nanofibers grown separately and 90 wt% of graphite particles showed an excellent discharge capacity of 400 mAh/g and the improved cycle performance. The improved performance could be explained by that the carbon nanofibers shortened and uniformly distributed on the surface of graphite particles by ball milling increased the stability for the intercalation/deintercalation of lithium ion and increased the electrical conductivity due to the closed packing between graphite particles.