Preparation of Pitch Porous Nitrogen‐doped Carbon and Its Low‐temperature Lithium Storage Properties

Abstract The electrochemical performance of conventional lithium‐ion batteries are significantly deteriorates at low temperatures, posing a significant challenge in the development of battery technology. This paper addresses this issue by focusing on the synthesis of a nitrogen‐doped porous carbon material with fast lithium‐ion diffusion and reaction kinetics at low temperatures. The material was prepared using pitch as a precursor, urea as a nitrogen source and blowing agent, and SiO 2 as a template. The obtained nitrogen‐doped porous carbon material (denoted as PN‐2) displayed a specific surface area of 167.64 m 2 /g and approximately five microcrystalline layers when the urea addition was 20%. Notably, at low temperatures, PN‐2 demonstrated an impressive discharge specific capacity, with average values of 372, 295, 254, and 197 mAh/g at 25 °C, 0 °C, −20 °C, and −40 °C, respectively. The large specific surface area of the porous carbon material effectively increased the active sites for lithium ions, promoting rapid diffusion and improved lithium/delithium kinetics, thus enhancing the multiplicity performance at low temperatures. This research provides the valuable insights for the design of high‐performance lithium‐ion battery materials suitable for cold climate environments.