Hard carbon is the most promising candidate material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to its excellent cyclability and high stability. However, unlike graphite used in most of the commercial LIBs, most of the details of the electrochemical reaction mechanism in hard carbon remains unknown.
In the past two decades, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have occupied the main market of energy storage devices owing to their light weight, high energy density and long cycle life 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Modern electrical energy storage devices, represented by lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), are playing an increasingly important role in the fields of energy storage [, , ]. So far, graphite has long served as the most common anode for commercial LIBs, owing to its low average voltage and safety in long-cycle life.
1. Introduction Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with high energy density, high-safety, and long cycle life, as high-performance power sources for portable electronic devices, electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems (ESS), have attracted significant research interest for decades [ , , , , , ].
The increasing demand for large-capacity lithium batteries requires new anode materials satisfying both high capacity and long-life cycles.
Due to its overall performance, hard carbon (HC) is a promising anode for rechargeable lithium-, sodium-, and potassium-ion batteries (LIBs, NIBs, KIBs).