Abstract:
Rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) have received increasing attention in recent years because of their low-cost, high charge/discharge rate capability, and safety. This type of battery uses a cost-effective aluminum anode and an intercalation cathode made of graphitic carbon materials. Natural graphite was reported as the highest performance cathode for AIBs. Though natural graphite is inexpensive, it is a non-renewable resource. Thus, porous graphitic carbon material derived from carbonized biomass shows high potential as an alternative cathode material. In this work, corn husk is used to prepare porous carbon material through carbonization in N2 atmosphere at 550-850°C with ferric (III) nitrate catalyst. Herein, the characterization of as-prepared porous carbon reveals microporous and mesoporous graphite features, which can be used as a host material for AIBs. Besides, the results show that microporous and mesoporous structures of the carbon material affected ions transfer. The porous carbon material is used as a cathode material and applies in a CR2032 battery cell. The battery using carbon material, derived from the corn husk, exhibits the maximum specific capacity of 52 mAh g-1graphite at a current density of 50 mA g-1graphite, whilst the battery using commercial graphite shows the maximum specific capacity of 65 mAh g-1graphite at the same current density and room temperature (25-30 °C).