Cost-effective synthesis of bamboo-structure carbon nanotubes from coal for reversible lithium storage

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with special structures offer great benefits for energy storage applications. Herein, we reported the facile and cost-effective synthesis of bamboo-structure CNTs (B-CNTs) using coal as the precursor through an effective arc discharge process. When evaluated as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, the B-CNTs afford a high reversible capacity of 450.1 mA h g-1, even after 100 cycles, as well as excellent rate performance over widely varied current densities, far superior to those of commercially available graphite anodes.