Biomass derived carbon nanoparticle as anodes for high performance sodium and lithium ion batteries

Abstract

In this paper, we report a flame deposition method to prepare carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) from coconut oil. The CNPs were further modified with a piranha solution to obtain surfacecarboxylated carbon nanoparticles (c-CNPs). When used as an anode for sodium-ion batteries, the CNPs and c-CNPs respectively delivered discharge capacities of 277 and 278 mAhg-1 in the second cycle at a current density of 100 mAg-1. At the 20 th cycle, the capacities of CNP and c-CNPs were 217 and 206 mAhg-1 respectively. The results suggest that modification of the CNPs with the piranha solution improved neither the charge storage capacity nor the stability against cycling in a sodium-ion battery. When the CNP and c-CNP were used an anode in a lithium-ion battery, 2 nd-cycle discharge capacities of 741 and 742 mAhg-1 respectively at a current density of 100 mAg-1 were obtained. After 20 cycles the capacities of CNP and c-CNP became 464 and 577 mAhg-1 respectively, showing the cycling stability of the CNPs was improved after modification. The excellent cycling performance, high capacity and good rate capability make the present material as highly promising anodes for both sodium-ion and lithium-ion batteries.

Biomass-derived carbon materials with structural diversities and their applications in energy storage

“…The size of the biomass-derived carbon spheres is changed from 200-400 nm to 1-2 μm [42]. Furthermore, Gaddam et al [21] reported that smaller carbon spheres were obtained from coconut oil via flame deposition (Fig. 2d).…”

“…On the other hand, the porous biomass-derived carbon can shorten the ion diffusion pathways and offer the increased electrode/ electrolyte interface for the enhanced rate capability. To date, most biomass-derived carbon have been prepared from various biomass precursors and used in anode materials of lithium-ion batteries, such as coir pith [194], cotton [195], wheat stalk [26,86], bean dreg [196], microalgae [197], glucose [198], ramie fibers and corncobs [57], coconut oil [21], sisal fiber [199], green tea [200], lignin [201].…”

“…Accordingly, among various types of carbon materials, hard carbon-based materials are considered a promising anode candidate for sodiumion batteries, owing to their large interlayer distance, non-ordered structure, high reversible capacity, low average potential, long cycling stability and low cost. Hard carbon materials are commonly produced from the pyrolysis of polymers, meanwhile they can also be derived from a variety of biomass precursors, such as sucrose [37], glucose [39], lotus petioles [145], coconut oil [21], ramie fibers and corncobs [57], corn cobs [215], horn comb [216], bacterial cellulose [70], oatmeal [22], maize [217], okara [96], dandelion [76], grass [218], black fungus [219]. However, hard carbon anode materials exhibited a low initial Coulombic efficiency due to the formation of solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer.…”

“…Importantly, the nature usually gives biomass a variety of microstructures, which could be used as precursors for preparing carbon materials with specific structures. Miraculously, biomassderived carbon materials can also inherit or evolve special microstructures including 0D spherical structure [21,22], 1D fibrous structure [23,24], 2D lamellar structure [25,26] and 3D skeleton structure [27][28][29], as shown in Fig. 1.…”

Sodium ion storage in reduced graphene oxide

“…However, large-scale application of LIBs might face certain constraints due to the uneven geographical distribution of lithium resources [2]. Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) are an alternative to LIBs.…”