Carbon aerogel with 3-D continuous skeleton and mesopore structure for lithium-ion batteries application

•Carbon aerogel (CA) was prepared via a microemulsion-templated sol–gel method.•The CA presents high surface area, 3D continuous skeleton and mesopore structure.•The reversible capacity of CA is much higher than that of graphite.

Carbon aerogel (CA) with 3-D continuous skeleton and mesopore structure was prepared via a microemulsion-templated sol–gel polymerization method and then used as the anode materials of lithium-ion batteries. It was found that the reversible specific capacity of the as-prepared CAs could stay at about 470 mA h g−1 for 80 cycles, much higher than the theoretical capacity of commercial graphite (372 mAh g−1). In addition, CA also showed a better rate capacity compared to commercial graphite. The good electrochemical properties could be ascribed to the following three factors: (1) the large BET surface area of 620 m2 g−1, which can provide more lithium ion insertion sites, (2) 3-D continuous skeleton of CAs, which favors the transport of the electrons, (3) 3-D continuous mesopore structure with narrow mesopore size distribution and high mesopore ratio of 87.3%, which facilitates the diffusion and transport of the electrolyte and lithium ions.