Corn straw-derived porous carbon as negative-electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries

The corn straw-based porous carbon prepared by KOH activation (K-TBC) has a hierarchical porous structure and a comparable specific surface area (2357 m(2) g(-1)). These micro-mesoporous structures can facilitate the transport of electrolyte ions and exposure to more active sites. Electrochemical analysis shows that the reversible specific capacity of biomass carbon activated by KOH is 358 mAh g(-1), which is much higher than that of the negative electrode material without an activator. Due to the influence of the Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) film, after 100 cycles at 0.1A g(-1), the charge capacity of the lithium-ion battery prepared with K-TBC as the active material is merely 167 mA hg(-1) but still better than that of the unactivated biomass carbon.