Wheat Bran Derived Carbon toward Cost-Efficient and High Performance Lithium Storage

Abstract

Graphite is the mainstream anode material of commercial lithium-ion batteries, while its low theoretical capacity and short supply limit its application in the ever-increasing demand for high-capacity batteries. For carbonaceous anode materials, the small surface area can endow relatively high initial Coulombic efficiency, and large mechanical strength can endow good stability during long-term cycling. In this study, sustainable wheat bran was utilized to prepare cost-efficient carbon anode via carbonization. At the reaction temperature of 800 °C, the carbonized wheat bran displayed an optimal mixed phase of ordered graphite (provided high conductivity) and amorphous carbon (provided more active sites). Due to a distinctive honeycomb-shaped hexagon structure and a small surface area of 57 m2 g–1, the as-prepared carbon material could achieve initial Coulombic efficiency up to 85%. Such an anode material revealed a superior reversible capacity of 515 mAh g–1 and corresponding retention of 92% after 1000 charge/discharge cycles. Using LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 as the cathode, the full cell delivered a large areal capacity of 2.66 mAh cm–2 over 200 cycles, with a high cycling stability of 82%. With such high Coulombic efficiency, areal capacity, and capacity retention, the carbonized wheat bran is on par with state-of-the-art carbonaceous anode material. This work develops a scalable and effective strategy to synthesize high-performance and low-cost carbon anode.

Facile Preparation of Magnetite-Incorporated Polyacrylonitrile-Derived Carbons for Li-Ion Battery Anodes

“…Figure a,b shows the CVs of the electrodes comprising c-PAN and c-Fe 3 O 4 @PAN particles. During the first cathodic scan of the c-PANs (Figure a), the broad peak observed at ∼0.6 V (vs Li/Li + ) occurred due to the formation of solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers . Thereafter, cathodic reactions corresponding to the lithiation of the c-PANs by the intercalation or adsorption of lithium ions continued until ∼0.1 V .…”

“…During the first cathodic scan of the c-PANs (Figure 6a), the broad peak observed at ∼0.6 V (vs Li/Li + ) occurred due to the formation of solid−electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers. 45 Thereafter, cathodic reactions corresponding to the lithiation of the c-PANs by the intercalation or adsorption of lithium ions continued until ∼0.1 V. 46 As the formation of SEI layers is an irreversible reaction, the peak at ∼0.6 V was not observed during the second cycle. On the other hand, the cathodic peak, which appeared at ∼0.1 V, owing to the lithiation of the c-PANs, was observed throughout.…”

Optimizations of Graphitic Carbon/Silicon Hybrids for Scalable Preparation with High-Performance Lithium-Ion Storage

“…A typical EIS curve includes a semicircle in the high-frequency region and a straight line in the low-frequency region, which represents the resistance of the charge transfer ( R ct ) and resistance of Li + transfer, respectively. , Apparently, the GC-1000 °C/Si anode has the smallest semicircle in the high-frequency region, indicating the low charge transfer resistance, in agreement with the electrical conductivity results. All curves presented a line with a tilt angle large than 45°, indicating the fast transport of Li ions and electron in the electrode/interface. , Accordingly, the detailed kinetic differences among the three GCs/SiNPs electrodes were fit, and the equivalent circuit diagram was also given in Figure S6 (Table S2). As expected, the GC-1000 °C/Si anode exhibited much lower charger transfer resistance.…”

“…All curves presented a line with a tilt angle large than 45°, indicating the fast transport of Li ions and electron in the electrode/ interface. 50,51 Accordingly, the detailed kinetic differences among the three GCs/SiNPs electrodes were fit, and the equivalent circuit diagram was also given in Figure S6 (Table S2). As expected, the GC-1000 °C/Si anode exhibited much lower charger transfer resistance.…”

Biomass-Based Silicon and Carbon for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

“…However, the exact composition of biomass precursors is influenced by the biomass species, growing habitat, geographical location, and seasonal changes. Various biomass precursors were investigated, including wheat bran ( Wang et al, 2020 ) avocado seeds ( Yokokura et al, 2020 ), reed flowers ( Zhao et al, 2020 ), cherry pits ( Hernández-Rentero et al, 2020 ), green-tea waste ( Sankar et al, 2019 ), coffee grounds ( Luna-Lama et al, 2019 ), peanut dregs ( Yuan et al, 2019 ), loofah ( Wu et al, 2019 ), jute fiber ( Dou et al, 2019 ), coffee oil ( Kim et al, 2018 ), corn stalks ( Li et al, 2018 ), apple, celery ( Hao et al, 2018 ), wheat flour ( Lim et al, 2017 ), coir pith ( Mullaivananathan et al, 2017 ), orange peel ( Xiang et al, 2017 ), woodchips ( Adams et al, 2016 ), prolifera-green-tide ( Cui et al, 2016 ), wheat stalk ( Zhou et al, 2016 ), coconut oil ( Gaddam et al, 2016 ), rice ( Han et al, 2016 ), and cotton ( Zhu and Akiyama, 2016 ). Cotton, a viable raw material for carbon manufacturing, contains 90–95% cellulose, thus making it one of the most abundant and environmentally favorable biomass materials in nature.…”