Biomass carbon derived from sisal fiber as anode material for lithium-ion batteries

• Sisal fibers are used as the biomass precursor to prepare the pyrolytic carbons.
• The pyrolytic carbons are activated by hydrothermal method for the first time.
• The activated carbons have higher specific surface area and disorder degree than the untreated.
• The activated carbons perform obviously higher capacity than the untreated as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

An amorphous carbon was prepared through pyrolysis of sisal fibers and hydrothermal activation of pyrolytic products. The products were characterized by XRD, TEM, Raman and BET-surface area measurement. The results show that the activated carbons have higher specific surface area and higher level of disorder degree than the untreated. As anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, both of untreated and activated sisal carbon samples exhibit good cycling stability. Furthermore, the activated carbons deliver obviously higher capacity than the untreated. It suggests that hydrothermal activation is an effective modified method to improve the electrochemical performance.