Carbon materials for lithium-ion battery: Applications and prospects

Carbon materials are widely used as anode materials in lithium ion batteries (LIBs) for intercalation of lithium to prohibit the formation of lithium dendrites, which promotes the commercialization of LIBs. In addition, carbon materials are also used as conductive additives in LIBs. Since the commercialization of LIBs, carbon materials are one of the most important components and the focus of LIB research. In particular, it is found in recent years that new carbon materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, exhibit superior properties due to their unique one-dimensional and two-dimensional structure and thus have shown potential applications for LIBs. In this short review, we briefly introduced the applications of carbon materials as anode materials and conductive additives in LIBs and mainly discussed the promising applications and prospects of carbon nanotubes and graphene for LIBs.