The Electrochemical Properties of Porous Carbon Derived from the Prawn as Anode for Lithium Ion Batteries

Porous carbon materials derived from the prawn shell (PSC) and prawn meat (PMC) have been successfully fabricated by a simple curing method, followed by an annealing process. The PSC and PMC are well characterized by XRD, Raman, SEM and TEM. Electrochemical measurements reveal that PSC and PMC deliver high initial discharge/charge capacities of 1735/878 mAh g(-1) and 1132/674 mAh g(-1) at 100 mA g(-1) and maintain charge capacity retention of 84.2% and 40.3% after 90 cycles, respectively. Moreover, the PSC exhibits a high reversible capacity of 300 mAh g(-1) after 50 cycles at 1000 mA g(-1). The outstanding electrochemical performance of PSC and PMC is attributed to the coherent interconnected porous structure and nitrogen doping, which is beneficial for fast penetration of electrolyte, rapid diffusion of Li+ and creation of numerous active sites for Li+ storage.