Mesoporous wormholelike carbon with controllable nanostructure for lithium ion batteries application

•Wormholelike carbon (WMC) with controllable nanostructure is prepared by sol–gel method.•The reversible capacity of WMC is much higher than that of many other reported nanocarbons.•The effect of pore diameter on Li storage capacity is investigated.

A class of mesoporous wormholelike carbon (WMC) with controllable nanostructure was prepared by sol–gel method and then used as the anode material of lithium-ion batteries. Based on the experimental results, it is found that the nanostructure of the as-prepared WMC plays an important role in the electrochemical performances. A suitable mesopore size is necessary for a high performance carbon-based anode material since it can not only guarantee effective mass transport channels but also provide large surface area. As a result, F30 with a mesopore size of 4.4 nm coupled with high surface area of 1077 m2 g−1 shows a reversible capacity of 630 mAh g−1, much higher than commercial graphite and many other reported nanocarbons.

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