Aluminum storage systems with graphite cathode have been greatly promoting the development of state-of-the-art rechargeable aluminum batteries over the last five years; this is due to the ultra-stable cycling, high capacity, and good safety of the systems. This study discussed the change of electrochemical behaviors caused by the structural difference between flake graphite and expandable graphite, the effects of temperature on the electrochemical performance of graphite in low-cost AlCl₃–NaCl inorganic molten salt, and the reaction mechanisms of aluminum complex ions in both graphite materials by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements. It was found that flake graphite stacked with noticeably small and thin graphene nanosheets exhibited high capacity and fairly good rate capability. The battery could achieve a high capacity of ∼219 mA hg⁻¹ over 1200 cycles at a high current density of 5 Ag⁻¹, with Coulombic efficiency of 94.1%. Moreover, the reaction mechanisms are clarified: For the flake graphite with small and thin graphene nanosheets and high mesopore structures, the reaction mechanism consisted of not only the intercalation of \({\rm{AlCl}}_4^ - \) anions between graphene layers but also the adsorption of \({\rm{AlCl}}_4^ - \) anions within mesopores; however, for the well-stacked and highly parallel layered large-size expandable graphite, the reaction mechanism mainly involved the intercalation of \({\rm{AlCl}}_4^ - \) anions.

在过去的五年中，带有石墨阴极的铝存储系统极大地推动了最先进的可充电铝电池的发展。这是由于系统的超稳定循环，高容量和良好的安全性。本研究探讨了片状石墨与可膨胀石墨之间结构差异引起的电化学行为变化，温度对低成本AlCl ₃中石墨电化学性能的影响。通过扫描电子显微镜，X射线衍射，拉曼光谱，循环伏安法和恒电流充放电测量，可以观察到–NaCl无机熔盐以及两种石墨材料中铝络离子的反应机理。已经发现，堆叠有显着小的和薄的石墨烯纳米片的片状石墨表现出高容量和相当好的倍率能力。在5 Ag ^-1的高电流密度下，该电池可以在1200个循环中达到219 mA hg ^-1的高容量，库仑效率为94.1％。此外，阐明了反应机理：对于石墨烯纳米片结构薄而薄且中孔结构高的片状石墨，反应机理不仅包括\（{\ rm {AlCl}} _ 4 ^-\的嵌入石墨烯层之间的阴离子，以及中孔中\（{\ rm {AlCl}} _ 4 ^-\）阴离子的吸附；然而，对于堆积良好且高度平行的层状大尺寸可膨胀石墨，反应机理主要涉及\（{\ rm {AlCl}} _ 4 ^-\）阴离子的嵌入。