Boron-Doped Carbon Nano-/Microballs from Orthoboric Acid-Starch: Preparation, Characterization, and Lithium Ion Storage Properties

Abstract

A boron-doped carbon nano-/microballs (BC) was successfully obtained via a two-step procedure including hydrothermal reaction (180 ∘ C) and carbonization (800 ∘ C) with cheap starch and H 3 BO 3 as the carbon and boron source. As a new kind of boron-doped carbon, BC contained 2.03 at% B-content and presented the morphology as almost perfect nano-/microballs with different sizes ranging from 500 nm to 5 m. Besides that, due to the electron deficient boron, BC was explored as anode material and presented good lithium storage performance. At a current density of 0.2 C, the first reversible specific discharge capacity of BC electrode reached as high as 964.2 mAh g -1 and kept at 699 mAh g -1 till the 11th cycle. BC also exhibited good cycle ability with a specific capacity of 356 mAh g -1 after 79 cycles at a current density of 0.5 C. This work proved to be an effective approach for boron-doped carbon nanostructures which has potential usage for lithium storage material.