Unraveling the intercorrelation between pseudo-graphitic phase and Li/Na migration behavior in semicoke-based carbon anodes.

Microstructural engineering is regarded as a promising option for fabricating high-performance carbon anodes. Hence, a facile solvothermal-assisted low-temperature calcination strategy was employed to modulate the microstructure of semicoke-derived carbon anodes. Owing to the effective pseudo-graphite phase modulation, the modified carbon anode exhibited a significant increase in capacity, cycling stability and ion kinetics in both lithium-ion batteries and sodium-ion batteries. Kinetic analysis and in-situ X-ray diffraction confirmed the "adsorption and intercalation" energy storage mechanism of the obtained carbon electrodes. In addition, by investigating the energy storage mechanism, we found that increasing the pseudo-graphite phase proportion played different roles in lithium and sodium ions storage. For lithium-ion storage, the pseudo-graphitic phase preferentially promotes lithium-ion transport kinetics. Conversely, during sodium-ion storage, this particular structure markedly augments the embedding capacity of sodium. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that different patterns of variation in the activation energy with the carbon layer spacing of lithium/sodium intercalation compounds lead to differences in performance enhancement. This study not only offers a low-cost approach for preparing carbon anodes enriched with a pseudo-graphitic phase, but also provides new insight into the discrepancy between lithium ion and sodium ion storage.