A modification in the preparation process of a carbon whisker for the anode performance of lithium rechargeable batteries

In general, a carbon whisker is prepared from hydrocarbons using a vapor-grown method and chopped to a suitable length. Two procedures were examined to prepare the whiskers: in the normal procedure (1A), whiskers were graphitized after the chopping process, and in the other process (2A), they were chopped after the graphitization. The carbon whisker of 2 μm in length by the 1A procedure (2GWH-1A) showed an average capacity of 248 mAh g−1. On the other hand, the whisker of the same diameter by the 2A process (2GWH-2A) showed a much higher capacity of 363 mAh g−1: this value is 1.6 times of that of 2GWH-1A. This modification method may open a new probability to higher performance carbon materials for the anode.