Rapidly synthesizing interconnected carbon nanocage by microwave toward high-performance aluminum batteries

Cathode materials with specific physicochemical properties are key to the excellent electrochemical performance of aluminum batteries. Here, we propose a catalyst-free microwave pulse radiation method to simply and rapidly convert Ketjen black into inter-connected carbon nanocage. The product has a three-dimensional inter-connected network framework, a large specific surface area, and eximious structural stability, which is beneficial for industrial development applications. Besides, molecular dynamics simulations show that when inter-connected carbon nanocage is used to AlCl4- anion storage, it has a self-protection mechanism, which can avoid structure collapse caused by excessive anion embedding. The inter-connected carbon nanocage exhibits excellent discharge capacity of 117 mAh g(-1) at a current density of 1000 mA g(-1) and exceptional stability with a discharge capacity as high as 105 mAh g(-1) at 2000 mA g(-1) after 1000 cycles as the cathode for the aluminum battery. The study greatly increases the production speed and reduces the requirements of experimental conditions for carbon nanocage, which may lead to a significant breakthrough for rapid, large-scale production of aluminum battery cathode materials and other fields.