Interlayer catalytic exfoliation realizing scalable production of large-size pristine few-layer graphene

Abstract

Mass production of reduced graphene oxide and graphene nanoplatelets has recently been achieved. However, a great challenge still remains in realizing large-quantity and high-quality production of large-size thin few-layer graphene (FLG). Here, we create a novel route to solve the issue by employing one-time-only interlayer catalytic exfoliation (ICE) of salt-intercalated graphite. The typical FLG with a large lateral size of tens of microns and a thickness less than 2 nm have been obtained by a mild and durative ICE. The high-quality graphene layers preserve intact basal crystal planes owing to avoidance of the degradation reaction during both intercalation and ICE. Furthermore, we reveal that the high-quality FLG ensures a remarkable lithium-storage stability (>1,000 cycles) and a large reversible specific capacity (>600 mAh g−1). This simple and scalable technique acquiring high-quality FLG offers considerable potential for future realistic applications.

Enhanced low-temperature lithium storage performance of multilayer graphene made through an improved ionic liquid-assisted synthesis

“…Moreover (Fig. 3a e right inset), GRAL's peak appears markedly lower than in ES 100, as a result of the decreased number of stacked graphene layers [51,52]. Additionally, the various low intensity reflexes between 8 and 13 of the ES 100, which are assigned to the intercalated species in the expandable graphite (Fig.…”

Critical Insight into the Relentless Progression Toward Graphene and Graphene‐Containing Materials for Lithium‐Ion Battery Anodes

“…Unfortunately, the authors erroneously calculated the energy and power on a single electrode basis. Other materials such as bottom-up-synthesized graphene, [ 85 ] electrochemically exfoliated graphene, [ 86 ] holey-RGO hydrogel, [ 87 ] CVD-derived fl exible graphene paper, [ 88 ] polysulfi de-functionalized RGO [ 89 ] and catalytically exfoliated few-layer graphene [ 90 ] were characterized and tested. Unluckily, despite the valuable cycling performances observed in two cases, [ 89,90 ] none of them seemed to have the potential of meeting the requirements of practical use.…”

FeCl3intercalated few-layer graphene for high lithium-ion storage performance

“…[23][24][25] Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a viable and efficient approach for the preparation of FLG with intact structure and high electrical conductivity in spite of the non-oxidation approaches reported for graphene preparation. [26][27][28][29] Herein, FeCl3-GICs are produced on a large-scale with an intercalation process and used as the precursor to prepare graphene and FeCl3-FLG by ultrasonication. The enlarged interlayer spacing by the intercalation of FeCl3 greatly reduces the attraction between adjacent graphene sheets, making it possible for the high-yield production of graphene sheets with a non-oxidation process.…”