Facile synthesis of Camellia oleifera shell-derived hard carbon as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 9; no. 35; pp. 20424 - 20431
• Main Authors: Ma, Beibei, Huang, Yewei, Nie, Zhenzhen, Qiu, Xiaobin, Su, Dawei, Wang, Guoxiu, Yuan, Jianmin, Xie, Xiuqiang, Wu, Zhenjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 01.07.2019; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Anodes; Carbon; Carbonization; Chemistry; Current density; Electrochemical analysis; Electrode materials; Functional groups; Lithium; Lithium-ion batteries; Porosity; Porous materials; Potassium carbonate; Rechargeable batteries
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ra03345a

A comparatively facile and ecofriendly process has been developed to synthesize porous carbon materials from shells. Potassium carbonate solution (K CO ) impregnation is introduced to modify the functional groups on the surface of shells, which may play a role in promoting the development of pore structure during carbonization treatment. Moreover, a small amount of naturally embedded nitrogen and sulfur in the shells can also bring about the formation of pores. The shell-derived carbon has a large specific surface area of 1479 m g with a total pore volume of 0.832 cm g after being carbonized at 900 °C for 1 h. Furthermore, when used as an anode for lithium-ion batteries, the sample shows superior electrochemical performance with a specific capacity of 483 mA h g after 100 cycles measured at 200 mA g current density. Surprisingly, the specific capacity is even gradually increased with cycling. In addition, this sample exhibits almost 100% retention capacity after 250 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g .