Functional biomass carbons for low-cost sodium and potassium-ion batteries (2019-2023)
Abstract
The development of hard carbon anode materials for stationary rechargeable sodium and potassium ion batteries remains a major technological challenge. This project aims to utilise two very different biomass feedstock sources,sorghum and macadamia shell agricultural waste to manufacture low-cost, high-performance carbon anodes. Current carbon anode materials such as graphite or carbonised sucrose, pitch or phenolics suffer from poor performance, high cost and/or low carbon yield and device durability issues. This project will investigate combinations of biomass precursors, tailored graphene and carbon alloys in order to significantly enhance anode performance while minimising cost.
