A selenium-doped carbon anode of high performance for lithium ion batteries

The strong demand on high-performance lithium ion batteries has brought up an attention upsurge in the research society and the commercial market. Carbon materials have shown the great potential as anode materials for lithium ion batteries since they are low-cost, safe, abundant, and electrochemically stable. In this work, we report a selenium-doped carbon anode through carbonizing the mixture of selenium and an organic compound of naphthalenetetracarboxylic dianhydride. Benefiting from the porous structure, enlarged BET specific area, and active defects from the doping of Se, the material shows excellent rate capability. It delivers a high specific capacity of 450 mAh g⁻¹ after 580 cycles at the current density of 500 mA g⁻¹ and a specific capacity of 170 mAh g⁻¹ after 2400 cycles at the current density of 1000 mA g⁻¹. The superb performance of this material proves its potential as anode for high-performance lithium ion batteries. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]