Surface structure and electrochemical characteristics of natural graphite fluorinated by ClF3

Natural graphite samples with average particle sizes of 5, 10 and 15 μm (NG5 μm, NG10 μm and NG15 μm, respectively) were fluorinated by ClF3 (3 × 104 Pa) at 200 and 300 °C for 2 min. X-ray photoelectron spectra of surface-fluorinated samples showed that surface fluorine concentration increased with increase in the particle size of graphite and reaction temperature. Small amounts of chlorine were also detected in all the fluorinated samples. Raman spectra of original and surface-fluorinated samples indicated that the surface disordering was increased for NG10 μm and NG15 μm. Surface areas were decreased by the fluorination for NG5 μm and NG10 μm but unchanged for NG15 μm. The mesopores with diameter of 1.5–2 nm increased while those of 2–3 nm decreased for all the samples. First coulombic efficiencies for NG10 μm and NG15 μm were highly increased by surface fluorination in 1 mol/dm3 LiClO4–EC/DEC/PC (EC: ethylene carbonate, DEC: diethyl carbonate, PC: propylene carbonate) solution.