Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis 100 (2013) 181–185 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis journa l h o me page: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaap A new carbonaceous material derived from biomass source peels as an improved anode for lithium ion batteries Xiaolei Sun, Xinghui Wang, Na Feng, Li Qiao, Xiuwan Li, Deyan He ∗ School of Physical Science and Technology, and Key Laboratory for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 22 May 2012 Accepted 16 December 2012 Available online 24 December 2012 Keywords: Carbon Biomass Anode Lithium ion batteries a b s t r a c t A simple, efficient, and economical route for large-scale preparation of a new carbonaceous material was explored by using spongy pomelo peels (SPP) without any surfactant addition and other treatment. As an anode material for lithium ion batteries, the product exhibits high capacity and excellent cycling stability and rate capability, delivering a capacity as high as 452 mAh g -1 at the current density of 90 mA g -1 even after 200 cycles. More importantly, the electrode resumes its capacity of about 500 mAh g -1 after the 100th cycle in rate capability test. It is believed that the unique structures and intrinsic properties of the material are responsible for the high electrochemical performance. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Energy storage technologies are critically important for the operation of electric vehicles and for the practical use of many kinds of renewable energy sources such as fuel cells, lithium ion batteries, supercapacitors [1–4]. Among these energy storage devices, lithium ion batteries with high energy density, long cycle life, lack of mem- ory effects, and flexible design are considered as an effective avenue to satisfy the increasing demands. However, the present lithium ion batteries using graphite cannot meet requirements for more demanding applications due to the limitations in energy capacity and reliable operation, and one of the main bottlenecks is electrode materials [5–8]. Carbon-based materials with various textures and morpholo- gies have drawn considerable attention as anode materials for lithium ion batteries due to their desirable features, such as avail- ability, thermal and chemical stability [9,10]. Therefore, in order to enhance the lithium storage capability, much effort has been devoted to strengthening the capacities of preparing various carbon structures, such as carbon nanotube (CNT) [11], nanofibers (CNF) [12], microbeads [13], and graphene [14]. However, most of these preparation methods rely on special equipments, special reagents or complex process control. Recently, as a renewable source, biomasses have attracted much attention for their promising applications in the preparation of car- bonaceous materials because of rich raw materials and low cost. As ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 931 8912546; fax: +86 931 8913554. E-mail address: hedy@lzu.edu.cn (D. He). is known, the pomelo fruit is primarily eaten fresh and available as food complements in desserts, salads, or food processing indus- tries. Up to now, the thick spongy peel of pomelo is sometimes used in marmalades and medicines, however, it still remains at small- scale traditional production. And despite the high amounts of the biomass [15], the thick peels are often discarded as waste through incineration or landfill processing, causing severe environmental pollution and resource-wasting. Therefore, it is very instructive and of great challenge for us to explore this biomass to obtain carbona- ceous material, and investigate it as anode material for lithium ion batteries. In this paper, we attempt to explore a simple, efficient, and economical route for large-scale preparation of a new carbona- ceous material by directly pyrolyzing SPP. When applied to lithium ion batteries, the product exhibits high capacity and excellent cycling stability and rate capability, delivering a capacity as high as 452 mAh g -1 at the current density of 90 mA g -1 even after 200 cycles. More importantly, the electrode resumes its capacity of about 500 mAh g -1 after the 100th cycle in rate capability test. 2. Experimental Pomelo peels are composed of pectin and cellulose as major con- stituents [15], based on the Broido-Shafizadeh model [16], a kinetic modeling of biomass pyrolysis, the scheme of the product forma- tion mechanism supported by digital images of objects is shown in Fig. 1. Pomelo peels were collected from nearby market as solid waste. The raw materials were cut into small pieces and washed with deionized water for several times to remove all the dirt particles. 0165-2370/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2012.12.016