ARBOK-TEGA vs Graphene Mesosponge: A Porous Carbon Network for Dense Lithium-Ion Electrodes

Dense lithium-ion electrodes are limited by transport: with a high loading of active material and little conductive additive, electrons and ions cannot move freely through the electrode. In October 2026 a group at Yokohama National University reported in Advanced Energy Materials that a small addition of graphene mesosponge, a spongy mesoporous carbon, builds a three-dimensional network for electrons and ions and outperforms acetylene black and single-walled carbon nanotubes. This preprint compares that architecture with TEGA (thermally expanded graphite Arbok), a graphene-like porous carbon that ARBOK produces with its own process. TEGA has a vermicular porous structure, a specific surface area of 2,400 m² per gram and a thermal conductivity of 100–470 W/(m·K), and it is made on site by mobile units at 50 kg to 1 t per hour at a cost of about USD 50 per kilogram. We describe the shared principle, the differences in readiness, and the related ARBOK lines AEROGRAPH and LiGra-BATTERY. Keywords: lithium-ion battery, conductive additive, graphene mesosponge, thermally expanded graphite, TEGA, porous carbon, ARBOK