Anthracite-derived carbon as superior anode for lithium/potassium-ion batteries

Graphite is limited to apply in large-scale energy storage system due to its high cost in lithium ion batteries and poor potassium storage performance in potassium ion batteries. Herein, a low-cost and mass-production of carbon as anode for lithium/potassium ion batteries has been prepared through one-step and low-temperature pyrolysis of anthracite. High yield of carbon and low pyrolysis temperature can greatly reduce cost of carbon anode using anthracite as raw material. Detailed investigation on microstructure and electrochemical performance indicates that the carbon with order and disorder hybrid structure exhibits the best electrochemical performance. Compared with the commercial graphite anode, the low-cost carbon displays the approximate capacity of 384.5 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 in lithium ion batteries and superior capacity and cycling stability in potassium ion batteries. The adsorption and intercalation mechanism caused by the hybrid structure contributes to the enhanced capacity and cycling stability in lithium/potassium ion batteries. The abundant micropores and defects act as active sites for efficient Li+/K+ storage. The low-cost carbon is highly expected to be a promising anode to the large-scale production for high performance lithium/potassium ion batteries.