Unique cyclic performance of post-treated carbide-derived carbon as an anode electrode

Carbide-derived carbon (CDC) is an attractive anode material for Li-ion battery applications because diverse pore textures and structures from amorphous to highly ordered graphite can be controlled by changing the synthesis conditions and precursor, respectively. To elucidate the unique cycling behavior of the post air-treated CDC anode, electrochemical performance was studied under variation of C-rates with structural changes before and after cycling. By tailoring the pore texture of CDCs as removal of amorphous phase by post air-activation, the anode electrode showed a high increase of capacity under prolonged cycling and under high C-rate conditions such as 0.3–1.0 C-rates. The discharge capacities of the treated CDC increased from 400 mAh g−1 to 913 mAh g−1 with increasing cycle number and were close to high initial irreversible value, 1250 mAh g−1, at the 220th cycle under a 0.1C-rate condition, which are unique and unusual cyclic properties in carbon anode applications. Under high C-rate conditions, the discharge capacities started to increase from around 160 mAh g−1 and values of 415 mAh g−1, 372 mAh g−1, and 336 mAh g−1, were observed at 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 C-rates, respectively, at 600 cycles, demonstrating stable capacity performance.