A green and template recyclable approach to prepare Fe3O4/porous carbon from petroleum asphalt for lithium-ion batteries

In this work, a green and template-recyclable method was designed to obtain Fe 3 O 4 /petroleum asphalt based carbons (Fe 3 O 4 /PC) with different Fe 3 O 4 contents as anode material for Li-ion batteries. 73-Fe 3 O 4 /PC with 73% Fe 3 O 4 can deliver a high reversible capacity of 785 mAh g −1 at 200 mA g −1 with excellent stability. The superior electrochemical performance of as-made Fe 3 O 4 /PC is attributed to the good electrical conductivity of carbon framework from asphalt and its dimensional confinement on Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles . This study not only demonstrates a green and economical route for high-value utilization of petroleum asphalt in energy storage, but also paves a new way for the preparation of porous carbon via recyclable template, which is indispensable for green chemistry.