Abstract:
In the past decades, the development of nano- carbon materials
with well-defined characteristics such as fullerenes, nanotubes
and graphene have been a very active area of research. Carbon
nanospheres (CNSs) are other class of nanostructured carbon
materials, and have shown good prospects for application as
alternative LIB anodes. CNSs possess some remarkable
characteristics such as high specific capacity and good rate
capability as anode materials in LIB. Those specific
characteristics are attributed to a combination of several factors,
including a short diffusion paths for Li+ ions; good porosity and
high surface area. In this study, carbon nanospheres (CNSs) were
synthesized by thermal assisted pyrolysis process using palm oil
as carbon precursors, Fe-catalyst and activated carbon support.
Prior to the synthesis of carbon nanospheres, Fe-catalyst on
carbon supports was prepared by deposition precipitation by
varying the amount of catalyst (10%, 20% and 30% w with
respect to the mass of carbon support). The effect of catalyst
amount on the morphology and structural characteristics of
carbon products was investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD),
Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope
(TEM). The study indicated that structural properties are changed
when a Fe catalyst amount is increased from 10 to 30 wt%. The
stable cycle performances of carbon products were demonstrated
when they are utilized as anode materials in lithium ion batteries.
However, it can be observed that the highest specific capacity
was shown by the carbon samples produced at the highest content
of Fe catalyst.
