Nickel-embedded carbon materials derived from wheat flour for li-ion storage

Abstract

The biomass-based carbons anode materials have drawn significant attention because of admirable electrochemical performance on account of their nontoxicity and abundance resources. Herein, a novel type of nickel-embedded carbon material (nickel@carbon) is prepared by carbonizing the dough which is synthesized by mixing wheat flour and nickel nitrate as anode material in lithiumion batteries. In the course of the carbonization process, the wheat flour is employed as a carbon precursor, while the nickel nitrate is introduced as both a graphitization catalyst and a pore-forming agent. The in situ formed Ni nanoparticles play a crucial role in catalyzing graphitization and regulating the carbon nanocrystalline structure. Mainly owing to the graphite-like carbon microcrystalline structure and the microporosity structure, the NC-600 sample exhibits a favorable reversible capacity (700.8 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 after 200 cycles), good rate performance (51.3 mAh g−1 at 20 A g−1 ), and long-cycling durability (257.25 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 after 800 cycles). Hence, this work proposes a promising inexpensive and highly sustainable biomass-based carbon anode material with superior electrochemical properties in LIBs.