In this study, carbon coating was carried out by physical vapor deposition (PVD) on SiOx surfaces to investigate the effect of the deposited carbon layer on the performance of lithium-ion batteries as a function of the asphaltene content of petroleum residues. The petroleum residue was separated into asphaltene-free petroleum residue (ASF) and asphaltene-based petroleum residue (AS) containing 12.54% asphaltene by a solvent extraction method, and the components were analyzed. The deposited carbon coating layer became thinner, with the thickness decreasing from 15.4 to 8.1 nm, as the asphaltene content of the petroleum residue increased, and a highly crystalline layer was obtained. In particular, the SiOx electrode carbon-coated with AS exhibited excellent cycling performance with an initial efficiency of 85.5% and a capacity retention rate of 94.1% after 100 cycles at a current density of 1.0 C. This is because the carbon layer with enhanced crystallinity had sufficient thickness to alleviate the volume expansion of SiOx, resulting in stable SEI layer formation and enhanced structural stability. In addition, the SiOx electrode exhibited the lowest resistance with a low impedance of 23.35 Ω, attributed to the crystalline carbon layer that enhanced electrical conductivity and the mobility of Li ions. This study demonstrated that increasing the asphaltene content of petroleum residues is the simplest strategy for preparing SiOx@C anode materials with thin, crystalline carbon layers and excellent electrochemical performance with high efficiency and high rate performance.

The study aims to use asphaltene particles (As) extracted from natural bitumen to synthesize activated carbon (ACAs). The asphaltene particles were mixed with a fixed weight of potassium hydroxide (KOH) as an activating agent, preheated to 600 °C, and then treated with 15% hydrofluoric acid (HF). The methylene blue (MB) 20 mg/l was used to determine the adsorption capacity of ACAs and reactivated carbon (RACAs). The morphology of ACAs and its components were characterized using scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray (SEM–EDX) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The study included the application of adsorption isotherms Freundlich and Langmuir on the experimental data of the studied systems. The yield of ACAs was 92% of the raw material. The activated carbon displayed high adsorption capacity and can be reprocessed after reactivation using microwave radiation. The active surface area of ACAs is found to be 970 m2/g. The effectiveness and adsorption ability of ACAs and RACAs, as proven by its adsorption capacity (218.15 and 217.907 mg/g) for MB, demonstrate that ACAs and RACAs have a large external surface area and an extensive array of pores. The ACAs are most sensitive at 30 °C and neutral pH. The results also showed that the isotherms have a good fit to the experimented data.

Asphaltenes are generally defined by their solubility when a light alkane, such as n-heptane or n-pentane, is mixed with crude oils or oil sand bitumen. However, this definition is nowadays not enough to understand their behaviors during oil recovery, transport, storage, and even refinery operation. Interestingly, the researches regarding asphaltenes have been vastly presented within last decade. This is because the production of heavy oils is becoming larger and asphaltenes are known to play an important role in the property changes of heavy oils. In this paper, the researches regarding molecular weight, aggregation behavior of asphaltenes are introduced and discussed. It is expected that analytical studies will be appeared continuously in the form of global collaboration in order to describe asphaltene molecules as close as possible based on their origin.