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Defect-free soft carbon as cathode material for Al-ion batteries

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Abstract

Al-ion batteries are proposed as promising energy storage candidates for beyond Li-ion technology due to the higher natural earth of Al metal. Recently, various graphite and graphene cathodes for Al-ion batteries have been studied in this regard, but their costs are not satisfactory. In this study, a novel cathode for Al-ion batteries is prepared by graphitizing inexpensive soft carbon materials (mesocarbon microspheres and petroleum coke) at 2800 °C. The charge and discharge process is showcased here for graphitized petroleum coke, which has a storage capacity of 77.7 mAh g−1 with two high discharge voltage (~ 2.25 and 1.80 V), higher than graphitized mesocarbon microspheres (51 mAh g−1). It also has excellent cycle stability and no reduction in specific capacity after 1000 cycles. Affordable cost of the graphitized petroleum coke cathode makes Al-ion battery more promising for large-scale chemical energy storage.

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Funding

This work was supported by Jiangsu University (grant number 5501670001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410000, People’s Republic of China

    Jia Qiao & Jianhong Yang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212000, People’s Republic of China

    Haitao Zhou, Zhongsheng Liu, Hejing Wen & Jianhong Yang

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  1. Jia Qiao
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  2. Haitao Zhou
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  3. Zhongsheng Liu
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  4. Hejing Wen
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  5. Jianhong Yang
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Correspondence to Jia Qiao.

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Qiao, J., Zhou, H., Liu, Z. et al. Defect-free soft carbon as cathode material for Al-ion batteries. Ionics 25, 1235–1242 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-019-02896-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-019-02896-8

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