Provided is aluminum secondary battery comprising an anode, a cathode, a porous separator electronically separating the anode and the cathode, and an electrolyte in ionic contact with the anode and the cathode to support reversible deposition and dissolution of aluminum at the anode, wherein the anode contains aluminum metal or an aluminum metal alloy as an anode active material and the cathode comprises a layer of graphitic carbon particles or fibers, preferably selected from meso-phase carbon particles, meso carbon micro-beads (MCMB), coke particles or needles, soft carbon particles, hard carbon particles, amorphous graphite containing graphite micro-crystallites, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, carbon nano-fibers, carbon fibers, graphite nano-fibers, graphite fibers, or a combination thereof.