Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) are considered one of the most promising alternatives to lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) due to the abundance of sodium resources. However, the deployment of SIBs is hindered severely by the lack of advanced electrode materials, especially anode materials. Herein, coal‐based hierarchically porous carbon nanofibers (HPCCNFs) are prepared by a simple electrospinning coupled with activation method. The chemical activation gives HPCCNF‐1 a micro/mesoporous integrated structure and appropriate specific surface area (2236.43 m2 g−1), while expanding the carbon layer spacing to 0.386 nm, which facilitates ion and electron transport. The N doping not only creates external defects and active sites, but also increases the electrical conductivity of the material. When used as an anode material for SIBs, the HPCCNFs‐1 exhibits excellent cycling stability (up to 1000 cycles) and good rate performance (121.7 mA h g−1 at 5 A g−1). This work demonstrates that the coal‐based carbon nanofibers can be a promising anode for building high‐performance batteries.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.