Preparation of petaloid graphite nanoflakes in molten salt for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

The high value-added utilization of inferior resources has grown up an urgent need. Artificial graphite with petaloid nanoflakes was prepared from inferior coal by molten salt electrolysis method. The as-prepared graphite was used in lithium-ion batteries, which exhibited a high reversible specific capacity of 848.26 mA h g −1 after 120 cycles with a current density of 1 A g −1 . Even at an ultra-high current density of 10 A g −1 , it still delivered a high specific capacity of 277.2 mA h g −1 as well as an excellent rate performance. These superiorities make synthetic graphite based on inferior coal a very promising anode materials for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. Graphical abstract