Electronic Modulation and Structural Engineering of Carbon-Based Anodes for Low-Temperature Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Review

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become the preferred battery system for portable electronic devices and transportation equipment due to their high specific energy, good cycling performance, low self-discharge, and absence of memory effect. However, excessively low ambient temperatures will seriously affect the performance of LIBs, which are almost incapable of discharging at −40~−60 °C. There are many factors affecting the low-temperature performance of LIBs, and one of the most important is the electrode material. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop electrode materials or modify existing materials in order to obtain excellent low-temperature LIB performance. A carbon-based anode is one candidate for use in LIBs. In recent years, it has been found that the diffusion coefficient of lithium ion in graphite anodes decreases more obviously at low temperatures, which is an important factor limiting its low-temperature performance. However, the structure of amorphous carbon materials is complex; they have good ionic diffusion properties, and their grain size, specific surface area, layer spacing, structural defects, surface functional groups, and doping elements may have a greater impact on their low-temperature performance. In this work, the low-temperature performance of LIBs was achieved by modifying the carbon-based material from the perspectives of electronic modulation and structural engineering.