Effects of structure on electrochemical properties of pyrolytic carbon anodes

Carhons were prepared at different temperatures by pyrolytic treatment of phenolformaldehyde resin molded with ZnCl2 in advance. X-ray structure analyses have shown that these carbon are essentially amorphous with rather loose structure of molecular size order with an interlayer distance of 0.36-0.37 nm. Using electrochemical methods, we have studied the insertion of lithium within these materials, Resole resins, healed to 580 degrees C, have a reversible capacity of about 400 mA . h/g, which is beyond the theoretical capacity of graphite (372 mA . h/g) and discover that carbons with a smaller crystallite size and large interlayer distance have the larger discharge capacity.