Silicon oxide (SiOx) has been considered one of the most promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries due to having a higher capacity than the commercial graphite anodes. However, its practical application is hampered by very large volume variations. In this work, pyrolysis fuel oil is the carbon coating precursor, and physical vapor deposition (PVD) is performed on SiOx at 200 and 400 °C (SiOx@C 200 and SiOx@C 400), followed by carbonization at 950 °C. SiOx@C 200 has a carbon coating layer with a thickness of ~ 20 nm and an amorphous structure, while that of SiOx@C 400 is approximately 10 nm thick and has a more semigraphitic structure. The carbon-coated SiOx anodes display better charge–discharge performance than the pristine SiOx anode. In particular, SiOx@C 200 shows the highest reversible capacity compared with the other samples at high C-rates (2.0 and 5.0 C). Moreover, SiOx@C 200 exhibits excellent cycling stability with a capacity retention of 90.2% after 80 cycles at 1.0 C. This result is ascribed to the suppressed volume expansion by the PFO carbon coating on SiOx after PVD.

Pitch precursors affording excellent spinnability, high-level oxidation-resistance, and good carbonization yields were prepared by bromination–dehydrobromination of various ratios of pyrolyzed fuel oil and coal tar pitch. The pitches exhibited spinnabilities that were much better than those of pitches prepared via simple distillation. A pitch prepared using a 1:2 ratio of fuel oil and coal tar pitch exhibited the best tensile strength. Pitch fibers of diameter 8.9 ± 0.1 μm were stabilized at 270 °C without soaking time after heating at a rate of 0.5 °C/min and carbonized at 1100 °C for 1 h after heating at 5 °C/min. The resulting carbon fibers exhibited a tensile strength, elongation, Young’s modulus, and average diameter of 1700 ± 170 MPa, 1.6 ± 0.1%, 106 ± 37 GPa, and 7.1 ± 0.2 μm, respectively.

Pyrolyzed fuel oil (PFO) and coal tar was blended in the feedstock to produce pitch via thermal reaction. The blended feedstock and produced pitch were characterized to investigate the effect of the blending ratio. In the feedstock analysis, coal tar exhibited a distinct distribution in its boiling point related to the number of aromatic rings and showed higher Conradson carbon residue and aromaticity values of 26.6% and 0.67%, respectively, compared with PFO. The pitch yield changed with the blending ratio, while the softening point of the produced pitch was determined by the PFO ratio in the blends. On the other hand, the carbon yield increased with increasing coal tar ratio in the blends. This phenomenon indicated that the formation of aliphatic bridges in PFO may occur during the thermal reaction, resulting in an increased softening point. In addition, it was confirmed that the molecular weight distribution of the produced pitch was associated with the predominant feedstock in the blend.