Preparation of biomass-derived carbon loaded with MnO₂ as lithium-ion battery anode for improving its reversible capacity and cycling performance

Abstract

Biomass-derived carbon materials for lithium-ion batteries emerge as one of the most promising anodes from sustainable perspective. However, improving the reversible capacity and cycling performance remains a long-standing challenge. By combining the benefits of K₂CO₃ activation and KMnO₄ hydrothermal treatment, this work proposes a two-step activation method to load MnO₂ charge transfer onto biomass-derived carbon (KAC@MnO₂). Comprehensive analysis reveals that KAC@MnO₂ has a micro-mesoporous coexistence structure and uniform surface distribution of MnO₂, thus providing an improved electrochemical performance. Specifically, KAC@MnO₂ exhibits an initial charge-discharge capacity of 847.3/1813.2 mAh·g^–1 at 0.2 A·g^–1, which is significantly higher than that of direct pyrolysis carbon and K₂CO₃ activated carbon, respectively. Furthermore, the KAC@MnO₂ maintains a reversible capacity of 652.6 mAh·g^–1 after 100 cycles. Even at a high current density of 1.0 A·g^–1, KAC@MnO₂ still exhibits excellent long-term cycling stability and maintains a stable reversible capacity of 306.7 mAh·g^–1 after 500 cycles. Compared with reported biochar anode materials, the KAC@MnO₂ prepared in this work shows superior reversible capacity and cycling performance. Additionally, the Li⁺ insertion and de-insertion mechanisms are verified by ex situ X-ray diffraction analysis during the charge-discharge process, helping us better understand the energy storage mechanism of KAC@MnO₂.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

biomass-derived carbon / MnO₂ / lithium-ion batteries / anode material / high reversible capacity

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22078278), Hunan Innovative Talent Project (Grant No. 2022RC1111), the Key project of Hunan Provincial Education Department (Grant No. 22A0131), the State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization (Open Fund Project No. ZJUCEU2021009).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-023-2376-y and is accessible for authorized users.

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