Carbon material derived from biomass: a study of structural and electrochemical performances for dual-carbon sodium-ion batteries

Abstract Biomass is one of the attractive, renewable, widely available, and cost-effective precursors to obtain carbon. In this work, the carbon-based material derived from coconut shell was produced by carbonization method that is applicable for anode materials especially dual-carbon sodium-ion batteries. The as-synthesized coconut shell was burned to be a charcoal named as HC-A. The charcoal was further proceeded by heating using a furnace with the temperature of 1000 °C named as HC-B. Commercial hard carbon named as HC-C was also prepared to compare the quality of samples. The specific capacitance obtained from cyclic voltammetry test of sample HC-A, HC-B, and HC-C with a scan rate of 25 mV s −1 are 6.73 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> F g −1 , 1.10 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> F g −1 and 4.09 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> F g −1 , respectively. The Na + ion diffusion coefficient of sample HC-A, HC-B and HC-C obtained from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy test are 5.75 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>15</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="1em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">cm</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> , 2.85 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>15</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="1em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">cm</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> , and 1.76 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mn>5</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="1em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">cm</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> . The results display that carbon material from coconut shell and hard carbon commercial have comparable value indicating by the same order of electrochemical quantity. This comprehensive study provides a feasible method and opens new opportunities for biomass carbon, and extends the strategy to design the high-performance anode materials for batteries.