Incommensurate Graphene Foam as a High Capacity Lithium Intercalation Anode

Abstract

Graphite's capacity of intercalating lithium in rechargeable batteries is limited (theoretically, 372 mAh g-1) due to low diffusion within commensurately-stacked graphene layers. Graphene foam with highly enriched incommensurately-stacked layers was grown and applied as an active electrode in rechargeable batteries. A 93% incommensurate graphene foam demonstrated a reversible specific capacity of 1,540 mAh g-1 with a 75% coulombic efficiency, and an 86% incommensurate sample achieves above 99% coulombic efficiency exhibiting 930 mAh g-1 specific capacity. The structural and binding analysis of graphene show that lithium atoms highly intercalate within weakly interacting incommensurately-stacked graphene network, followed by a further flexible rearrangement of layers for a long-term stable cycling. We consider lithium intercalation model for multilayer graphene where capacity varies with N number of layers resulting LiN+1C2N stoichiometry. The effective capacity of commonly used carbon-based rechargeable batteries can be significantly improved using incommensurate graphene as an anode material.