Microporous carbon aerogel prepared through ambient pressure drying route as anode material for lithium ion cells

• Published in: Polymers for advanced technologies 2017-12, Vol.28 (12), p.1945-1950
• Main Authors: Alex, Ancy Smitha, M.S., Ananda Lekshmi, V., Sekkar, John, Bibin, C., Gouri, S.A., Ilangovan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerogels; anode; Anodes; Carbon; carbon aerogel; Carbonization; Chemical synthesis; Drying; Electric cells; Electrode materials; Formaldehyde; Lithium; lithium ion battery; Lithium-ion batteries; Microscopy; Morphology; Pressure; Sodium carbonate; Sol-gel processes; Transmission electron microscopy; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 1042-7147; 1099-1581
• DOI: 10.1002/pat.4085

Carbon aerogel synthesized through a cost‐effective and easy method was evaluated and found to be a promising anode material for lithium ion cells. Carbon aerogel was prepared by carbonizing resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) aerogel under inert atmosphere. Resorcinol–formaldehyde aerogel in turn was prepared through sol gel polymerization of resorcinol with formaldehyde using sodium carbonate as catalyst adopting ambient pressure drying route. The structure and the morphology of the prepared carbon aerogel are investigated using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and surface area determined using N2–Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method. The TEM images reveal microporous morphology of the carbon aerogel particles. The evaluation of carbon aerogel as an anode material revealed promising specific capacity synergized with outstanding cyclability. The first cycle specific capacity was 288 mAh/g with an efficiency of 63% at C/10 rate. The material retained a capacity of 96.9% of the initial capacity with about 100% efficiency after 100 cycles, showing the excellent cyclability of the material. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.