Hard Carbon Derived from Graphite Anode by Mechanochemistry and the Enhanced Lithium‐Ion Storage Performance

Abstract Graphite is the mainstream anode material for commercial lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs), but the low theoretical capacity (372 mAh g −1 ) becomes the bottleneck to further increase the energy density of LIBs. Herein, hard carbon derived from graphite with enhanced lithium‐ion storage performance is demonstrated by environmentally friendly and simply mechanochemical method. With the mechanochemical treatment, the commercial graphite transferred into hard carbon materials with controllable morphology and defect density. As an optimal exemplification, the obtained hard carbon serving as anode delivers significantly enhanced lithium storage capacity of 629.8 mAh g −1 at a current density of 0.2 A g −1 , which is nearly double of the pristine graphite anode. The enhanced lithium storage performance of hard carbon anode is attributed to the presence of numerous defects induced by mechanochemical process, serving as the active sites to improve capacity during the Li insertion and extraction process. Our work broadens the avenue for graphite anode to further increase the energy density of LIBs.