Hierarchical N/O co-doped hard carbon derived from waste saccharomyces cerevisiae for lithium storage

Biomass derived hard carbon has been considered as an alternative anode for lithium ion battery due to its low cost, natural abundance and large-scale production properties. Herein, N/O co-doped hard carbon was fabricated by calcining and pickling waste saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the graphitization degree and surface functional groups in hard carbon was elaborately controlled by calcination temperature. The unique hierarchical structure with hollow nanoparticles on the surface of microparticles provided a buffer space for the insertion/extraction of Li+, the large interlayer distance favored the fast electrochemical kinetics. N/O heteroatom doping improved the intrinsic conductivity and afforded additional active sites for ions storage through pseudo-capacitive behavior. Consequently, the saccharomyces cerevisiae derived hard carbon with optimized graphitization degree and N/O doping delivered a high specific capacity of 307.4 mAh g(-1) after 500 cycles at 1 A g(-1). This work not only provided an optional anode for LIBs, but also enriched the high-value reutilization of waste saccharomyces cerevisiae.