Lithium Borocarbide LiBC as an Anode Material for Rechargeable Li-Ion Batteries

Graphite is the dominant anode material for commercial Li-ion batteries, whereas developing other graphite-like anode material has never been practically achieved to date. Here, we perform computational and experimental studies to demonstrate the feasibility of graphite-like LiBC as a high-capacity anode material for Li-ion batteries. Electrochemical measurements suggest that LiBC can deliver a reversible specific capacity of 450 mAh g–1 with an average voltage of 1.4 V vs Li+/Li. Analogous to graphite, both the discharged and charged LiBC preserve the layered structure. As far as we know, this is the first realization of a graphite-like anode material for Li-ion battery, which will shed light on the development of other graphite derivatives for energy storage.