Recent progress in plant-derived hard carbon anode materials for sodium-ion batteries: a review

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been considered as a promising alternative to the commercialized lithium ion batteries (LIBs) in large-scale energy storage field for its rich reserve in the earth. Hard carbon has been expected to the first commercial anode material for SIBs. Among various of hard carbon materials, plant-derived carbon is prominent because of abundant source, low cost and excellent electrochemical performance. This review focuses on the recent progress in the development of plant-derived hard carbon anodes for SIBs. We summarized the microstructure and electrochemical performance of hard carbon materials pyrolyzed from different parts of plants at different temperatures. It aims to present a full scope of plant-derived hard carbon anode materials and provide in-depth understanding and guideline for the design of high-performance hard carbon for sodium ion anodes.