Helical mesoporous carbon nanoribbons as high performance lithium ion battery anode materials

Design and synthesis of novel carbon nanomaterials as the anodes for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is of great importance for modern electronic devices and electric vehicles. In this work, helical resorcinol formaldehyde resin/silica composite nanoribbons were prepared via a sol-gel process using self-assembly of a cationic gelator as the template, resorcinol, formaldehyde and tetraethyl orthosilicate as the precursors. After carbonization under argon at 600 degrees C, followed by washing with dilute HF solution to remove the silica compound from the nanocomposites, helical mesoporous carbon nanoribbons were finally obtained. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrum indicated that the walls of the nanoribbons are predominantly amorphous carbon. Electrochemical measurements showed that at a current density of 0.1 A/g, the helical mesoporous carbon nanoribbons delivered a high reversible capacity of 704.6 mAh/g over 120 cycles, indicating that they are promising anode materials for LIBs compared with the currently commercial graphitic materials. (C) 2017 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.