Structural Effect on Electrochemical Performance of Ordered Porous Carbon Electrodes for Na-Ion Batteries

Ordered meso- or macro-porous carbons (OMCs) were applied as anodes in Na ion battery (NIB) systems. Three different block copolymers (BCPs) enabled us to control the pore sizes (6, 33, and 60 nm) while maintaining the same 2-D hexagonal structure. To exclude other effects, the factors including precursors, particle sizes, and degrees of graphitization were controlled. The structures of OMCs were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray analyses (XRD and SAXS), and microscopies (TEM and SEM). With a galvanostatic charge/discharge, we confirmed that OMC electrode with medium pore size (OMC-33) exhibited a higher reversible capacity of 134 mA h g(-1) (at 20th cycle) and faster rate capability (61% retention, current densities from 50 to 5000 mA g(-1)) than those of OMC-6, and OMC-60 electrodes. The high performance of OMC-33 is attributed to the combined effects of pore size and wall thickness which was supported by charge/discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analyses.