Electrodic characteristics of various carbon materials for lithium rechargeable batteries

Electrodic characteristics of various carbon materials have been investigated to study the correlation between structures of carbon materials and performances of negative electrodes of lithium rechargeable batteries. In the case of highly graphitized carbon materials, the discharge capacity was determined mainly by their crystallinity with no dependence on textures and natural graphite; the highest graphitization at about 360 mAh/g was stage-1 lithium-intercalated graphite, C6Li (theoretical maximum 372 mAh/g). The coulombic efficiency at the first cycle was strongly dependent on the textures of the carbon materials, and pitch-based carbon fiber of a radial structure showed an excellent coulombic efficiency over 96% by selecting appropriate electrolytes. The performances of the pitch-based carbon fiber were also excellent in the electrolytes consisting of mixed solvents containing propylene carbonate. On the other hand, the pitch coke heat-treated at 550 °C had an initial capacity over 550 mAh/g, which was beyond the theoretically maximum capacity of 372 mAh/g for C6Li, although the capacity decreased rapidly to less than 250 mAh/g within ten cycles. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fiber showed a stable capacity with cycling over 350 mAh/g in spite of low graphitization. The initial coulombic efficiency seemed to increase in accordance with decrease of hydrogen and oxygen in the pitch coke, and oxygen and nitrogen in the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers. These phenomena seemed to suggest that carbon materials of disordered structure would have higher capacity than that of the graphitic carbon materials.