Ultrafast synthesis of battery grade graphite enabled by a multi-physics field carbonization

The typical synthesis of graphite requires carbonization at 2800 degrees C, which consumes a substantial amount of energy. We present a novel, sustainable and cost-effective method for synthesizing high-crystallinity graphite in 13 min at a low temperature of 1100 degrees C and a multi-physics field (MPF) carbonization coupling with a Ni catalyst. The MPF synergistically benefits from a thermal field, an electric field, and a pressure field in an MPF furnace at the lab scale. Molecular dynamics and differential charge density calculation indicated that the MPF carbonization facilitated exceptional kinetics, and considerably accelerated the breaking of the Ni-metal-catalyzed C-O bonds. The starch-derived graphite anode provided a reversible Li+ storage capacity of 370.7 mAh g(-1), matching that of commercial graphite. It also demonstrates exceptional rate performance with a ca-pacity of 103.3 mAh g(-1) at an ultra-high current density of 30 A g(-1) in diglyme-based Na-ion batteries and ultrastable cycling performance over 10,000 cycles at 2 A g(-1). This method will shed some light on how to rapidly fabricate highly crystalline graphite by a energy-saving and low-cost route.

Automated summary

We present a new method for synthesizing high-crystallinity graphite at a low temperature of 1100 degrees C in just 13 minutes. This sustainable and cost-effective method utilizes a multi-physics field coupling with a Ni catalyst, and shows exceptional kinetics and accelerated breaking of C-O bonds. The synthesized graphite exhibits excellent performance in Li+ storage and Na-ion batteries, indicating its potential in energy storage applications.