Tailoring the Microstructure of Porous Carbon Spheres as High Rate Performance Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Benefiting from their high surface areas, excellent conductivity, and environmental-friendliness, porous carbon nanospheres (PCSs) are of particular attraction for the anodes of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the regulation of carbon nanospheres with controlled pore distribution and graphitization for delivering high Li+ storage behavior is still under investigation. Here, we provide a facile approach to obtain PCSs with different microstructures via modulating the carbonization temperatures. With the processing temperature of 850 & DEG;C, the optimized PCSs exhibit an increased surface area, electrical conductivity, and enhanced specific capacity (202 mA h g(-1) at 2 A g(-1)) compared to the PCSs carbonized at lower temperatures. Additionally, PCSs 850 provide excellent cyclability with a capacity retention of 83% for 500 cycles. Such work can pave a new pathway to achieve carbon nanospheres with excellent performances in LIBs.

Automated summary

By modulating the carbonization temperatures, porous carbon nanospheres (PCSs) with different microstructures can be obtained. The PCSs carbonized at 850℃ show increased surface area, electrical conductivity, and enhanced specific capacity, leading to excellent performances in lithium-ion batteries.