Xanthoceras sorbifolia husks-derived porous carbon for sodium-ion and lithium‑sulfur batteries

Abstract

Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) and lithium‑sulfur batteries (LSBs) have attracted increasing research attention as promising energy storage systems. And renewable biomass-derived carbon materials play an important role in improving their electrochemical performance due to their heteroatoms-doping, electrical conductivity and exceptional porous structure. Here, xanthoceras sorbifolia husks have been employed to prepare amorphous porous carbon (XSH-PC) for NIBs and LSBs. As an anode material for NIBs, XSH-PC delivers a reversible specific capacity of 269.5 mA h g−1 at 0.05 A g−1 with initial coulombic efficiency as high as 65.9%, and retains stable capacity of 113 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles at 1 A g−1. As well, after sulfur loading, as obtained XSH-PC/S composite shows stable coulombic efficiencies of 100 ± 0.3% and a reversible specific capacity of 442.4 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles at 2 A g−1 with a low average capacity decay rate of 0.065% per cycle when used for LSBs. These excellent electrochemical properties can be attributed to the unique structure of XSH-PC showing mesoporous structure with abundant carbon edge defects and large specific surface areas. These results illuminate the potential application of xanthoceras sorbifolia husks-derived porous carbon in NIBs and LSBs.