Facile construction of honeycomb-shaped porous carbon electrode materials using recyclable sodium chloride template for efficient lithium storage

Carbon materials are the preferred anode materials for Li-ion batteries.Here,we propose an easy and sustainable strategy to prepare honeycomb-shaped porous carbon(HPC)electrode materials through a process involving simple calcination and subsequent water washing by using polyvinyl-pyrrolidone(PVP)as carbon source and NaCl as pore-forming agent.A controllable cavity size and distribution of the carbon materials can be readily obtained solely by adjusting the NaCl amount.Results showed that the optimized HPC sample had a relatively uniform cavity distribution and a highly porous structure.Moreover,the special honeycomb-shaped structure was conducive to the electronic conductivity of the electrode materials,provided a short path for Li-ion transport and a wide interface with the electrolyte,and buffered the volume change of active materials.The special honeycomb-shaped structure was also maintained well after long cycles,which improved electrode stability.When used as anode materials for Li-ion batteries(LIBs),the sample demonstrated excellent cycling stability and rate performance,with a high specific capacity of 230 mA hg^-1 and a reversible capacity of 197 mA hg^-1,after 1200 cycles at 2 C.Overall,we introduced a simple strategy for the potential mass production of porous carbon materials for LIBs.