| CPC B22F 3/10 (2013.01) [B22D 15/00 (2013.01); B22D 21/005 (2013.01); B22D 25/005 (2013.01); B22F 3/1143 (2013.01); B22F 3/222 (2013.01); B22F 3/24 (2013.01); B22F 5/10 (2013.01); B22F 2003/242 (2013.01); B22F 2201/01 (2013.01); B22F 2201/03 (2013.01); B22F 2301/205 (2013.01); B22F 2301/35 (2013.01); B22F 2998/10 (2013.01); B22F 2999/00 (2013.01); C04B 2235/3232 (2013.01); H01M 2004/021 (2013.01); H01M 4/0404 (2013.01); H01M 4/0485 (2013.01); H01M 4/13 (2013.01); H01M 4/134 (2013.01); H01M 4/387 (2013.01); H01M 4/523 (2013.01); H01M 4/661 (2013.01); H01M 4/801 (2013.01); H01M 10/0525 (2013.01)] | 16 Claims |

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1. A method comprising:
placing a mold on a copper rod into liquid nitrogen and pouring a metal slurry in the mold;
freezing the metal slurry where metal particles are piled up and physically attached between growing ice crystals;
forming a porous green-body by drying the ice crystals of the frozen slurry at a first temperature, leaving pores in their places with physical attachment;
constructing a porous metal foam by reducing and sintering the porous green-body at a second high temperature under hydrogen atmosphere, wherein the second temperature is higher than the first temperature, and the sintering comprises:
presintering at from about 200 degrees Celsius to about 250 degrees Celsius for about 3 hours to about 5 hours and then sintering at from about 700 degrees Celsius to about 900 degrees Celsius from about 12 hours to about 16 hours in a tube furnace under from an about 4-percent to an about 6-percent hydrogen mixture gas; and
cutting the porous metal foam into a form of a thin layer to apply it as an electrode in a lithium-ion battery.
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