The electrochemical behaviors of natural graphite (NG198), artificial graphite (AG360) and carbon microbeads (CMB) in an ionic liquid based electrolyte are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The surface and structure of three graphite materials are characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) before and after cycling. It is found that solid electrolyte interface (SEI) is closely related to graphite structure. Benefiting from larger specific surface area and more dispersed Li+ insertion points, CMB shows a better Li+ insertion/de-insertion behavior than NG198 and AG360. Furthermore, electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) prove that the SEI of different graphite electrodes has different intrinsic resistance and Li+ penetrability. By comparison, CMB behaves better cell performances than AG360, while the narrow edge plane makes NG198 uncompetitive as a potential anode for the ionic liquids (ILs)-type Li-ion battery. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.