Nickel-Embedded Carbon Materials Derived from Wheat Flour for Li-Ion Storage

The biomass-based carbons anode materials have drawn significant attention because of admirable electrochemical performance on account of their nontoxicity and abundance resources. Herein, a novel type of nickel-embedded carbon material (nickel@carbon) is prepared by carbonizing the dough which is synthesized by mixing wheat flour and nickel nitrate as anode material in lithium-ion batteries. In the course of the carbonization process, the wheat flour is employed as a carbon precursor, while the nickel nitrate is introduced as both a graphitization catalyst and a pore-forming agent. The in situ formed Ni nanoparticles play a crucial role in catalyzing graphitization and regulating the carbon nanocrystalline structure. Mainly owing to the graphite-like carbon microcrystalline structure and the microporosity structure, the NC-600 sample exhibits a favorable reversible capacity (700.8 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1 after 200 cycles), good rate performance (51.3 mAh g^-1 at 20 A g^-1), and long-cycling durability (257.25 mAh g^-1 at 1 A g^-1 after 800 cycles). Hence, this work proposes a promising inexpensive and highly sustainable biomass-based carbon anode material with superior electrochemical properties in LIBs.