Lignin‐derived carbon with pyridine N‐B doping and a nanosandwich structure for high and stable lithium storage

Biomass‐derived carbon is a promising electrode material in energy storage devices.However,how to improve its low capacity and stability,and slow diffusion kinetics during lithium storage remains a challenge.In this research,we propose a“self‐assembly‐template”method to prepare B,N codoped porous carbon(BN‐C)with a nanosandwich structure and abundant pyridinic N‐B species.The nanosandwich structure can increase powder density and cycle stability by constructing a stable solid electrolyte interphase film,shortening the Li^(+)diffusion pathway,and accommodating volume expansion during repeated charging/discharging.The abundant pyridinic N‐B species can simultaneously promote the adsorption/desorption of Li^(+)/PF_(6)^(−)and reduce the diffusion barrier.The BN‐C electrode showed a high lithium‐ion storage capacity of above 1140 mAh g^(−1)at 0.05 A g^(−1)and superior stability(96.5%retained after 2000 cycles).Moreover,owing to the synergistic effect of the nanosandwich structure and pyridinic N‐B species,the assembled symmetrical BN‐C//BN‐C full cell shows a high energy density of 234.7Wh kg^(−1),high power density of 39.38 kW kg−1,and excellent cycling stability,superior to most of the other cells reported in the literature.As the density functional theory simulation demonstrated,pyridinic N‐B shows enhanced adsorption activity for Li^(+)and PF_(6)^(−),which promotes an increase in the capacity of the anode and cathode,respectively.Meanwhile,the relatively lower diffusion barrier of pyridinic N‐B promotes Li^(+)migration,resulting in good rate performance.Therefore,this study provides a new approach for the synergistic modulation of a nanostructure and an active site simultaneously to fabricate the carbon electrode material in energy storage devices.

Construction of the hierarchical porous biochar with an ultrahigh specific surface area for application in high-performance lithium-ion capacitor cathode

Biochar with a highly accessible specific surface area can display a higher performance when it is used as the cathode of lithium-ion capacitors.Facing the complex composition and diversity of biomass precursors,there is a lack of a universally applicable method to construct hierarchical porous biochar controllably.In this work,a multi-stage activation strategy combining the feature of different activation methods is proposed for this target.To confirm the porous characteristic in prepared samples,N_(2) adsorption-desorption and transmission electron microscope were used.As the optimal sample,BC-P3K4S had the highest specific surface area of 3583.3 m^(2) g^(−1).Evaluated as the electrode for a lithium-ion capacitor,BC-P3K4S displayed a capacity of 139.1 mAh g^(−1) at 0.1 A g^(−1).After coupling it with pre-lithiated hard carbon,the full device exhibited a high energy density of 129.3 W h kg^(−1) at 153 W kg^(−1).The work outlined herein offers some insights into the preparation of hierarchical porous biochar from complex biomass by multistep activation method.