AUTHOR=Xu Kaiqi , Li Yunsha , Xiong Jiawen , Ou Xing , Su Wei , Zhong Guobin , Yang Chenghao 

TITLE=Activated Amorphous Carbon With High-Porosity Derived From Camellia Pollen Grains as Anode Materials for Lithium/Sodium Ion Batteries

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 6 - 2018

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2018.00366

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2018.00366

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=Carbonaceous anode materials are commonly utilized in the energy storage systems, while their unsatisfied electrochemical performances hardly meet the increasing requirement for advanced anode materials. Here, activated amorphous carbon (AAC) is synthesized by carbonizing renewable camellia pollen grains with naturally hierarchical structure, which not only maintains abundant micro- and mesopores with surprising specific surface area (660 m2 g-1), but also enlargers the interlayer spacing from 0.352 nm to 0.4 nm, effectively facilitating ions transport, intercalation and adsorption. Benefiting from such unique characters, AAC exhibits 691.7 mAh g-1 after 1200 cycles at 2 A g-1, and achieves 459.7, 335.4, 288.7, 251.7 and 213.5 mAh g-1 at 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5 A g-1 in rate response for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Additionally, reversible capacities of 324.8, 321.6, 312.1, 298.9, 282.3, 272.4 mAh g-1 at various rates of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5 A g-1 are preserved for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). The results reveal that the AAC anode derived from camellia pollen grains can display excellent cyclic life and superior rate performance, endowing the infinite potential to extend its applications in LIBs and SIBs.