Novel nitrogen-rich porous carbon spheres as a high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries

Carbonaceous materials with suitable structure and components are highly desirable for the development of lithium ion batteries (LIBs), since they can produce the best possible result by combining the advantages of the various structures and different components. To this end, herein, novel nitrogen-rich porous carbon spheres (N-PCS) with an appropriate pores distribution are proposed and prepared by using a template-assisted self-assembly method. The as-prepared N-PCS possess a high nitrogen content (>5%) and exhibit an interconnected sphere structure with large quantities of mesopores. As expected, the N-PCS display superior electrochemical performances, such as a high initial columbic efficiency (>60%), super cycle stability (retention of 540 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.5 A g−1), and good rate capability (215 mA h g−1 at 3 A g−1), thereby showing great promise as anode materials for the next generation of LIBs.