Synergistic interface engineering of graphite cathodes via F127 self-assembly and plasma etching for rapid and stable anion storage in aluminum batteries

Graphite-based materials are promising cathodes for rechargeable aluminum batteries (RABs) owing to their tunable electronic and structural characteristics; however, their performance is hindered by sluggish ion transport in conventional graphite cathode materials suffering from limited interlayer spacing and low surface activity. Herein, we develop a synergistic modification strategy combining Pluronic F127 self-assembly and Ar-plasma treatment to engineer graphite cathodes. The F127 soft template expands the interlayer spacing, while plasma etching introduces surface defects, synergistically optimizing ion transport pathways and electrochemical activity. The optimized cathode possesses an enlarged interlayer distance of 0.42 nm and delivers a high specific capacity of 135 mAh g −1 at 1 A g −1 , excellent rate capability, and 70.4% capacity retention over 10000 cycles. Kinetic analysis reveals a dominant pseudocapacitive contribution of 83.7%. This work demonstrates an effective interface engineering approach for designing high-performance carbon-based cathodes in RABs.