Optimizing Aromaticity for Graphitization

The increasing graphite demand for energy storage confronts a significant hurdle: a dwindling supply of high-quality precursors. This study introduces a simple additive upgradation strategy, exploring the potential of waste plastics and lower-quality aliphatic pitches to improve scant high-aromaticity pitch precursors by providing donatable hydrogen. The results indicate not only that high-quality aromatic pitches can accommodate waste plastics and lower-quality aliphatic pitches but also that their synergistic composition leads to improved graphitic quality and a uniform crystalline phase in the heat-treated products. Optimal aromaticity values have been investigated through a graphitization study of diverse pitch samples. Additionally, the effectiveness of quinoline insoluble removal as a subtractive strategy on crystallite sizes after graphitization was investigated, and remarkable improvements were observed in the crystallite sizes of the graphitized product.