Charge/discharge characteristics of synthetic carbon anode for lithium secondary battery

Recent studies on carbon anodes for lithium secondary batteries have revealed that the electrochemical performances of carbon anodes largely depend on the nature of carbon precursors, heat-treatment condition, structural characteristics of carbons, and so on. In order to clarify the relationship between the carbon structures and electrochemical properties, several kinds of model carbons with different structures were synthesized from three types of pure compounds, acenaphthylene, coronene and phenolphthalein, and their electrochemical characteristics were investigated. As a result, all the model carbons carbonized at 800 °C demonstrate higher capacities than the theoretical one (372 Ah kg−1). Moreover, the structures of the carbons synthesized from the admixtures of acenaphthylene and phenolphthalein were determined by the dominant component, acenaphthylene or phenolphthalein and their discharge capacities were also determined by the corresponding concentration in the carbon mixture.