Nitrogen-self-doped graphene as a high capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Promising electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices constitute the main obstacles to the use of electrode materials of high energy and power density and long-cycling life to applications in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this paper, we demonstrate a resin-based methodology for large-scale self-assembly of nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene), which has high capacity as an anode material for LIBs. The N-graphene is readily obtained using nitrogen- and metal ion-containing precursors. The N-graphene is characterized by Raman, AFM, TEM, SEM, and XPS measurements. It exhibits a very large reversible capacity of 1177 mA h g−1 at a current of 0.05 A g−1 as well as good cycling performance. The resulting N-graphene shows high capacity of 682 mA h g−1 over 95 cycles, representing a promising cathode material for rechargeable LIBs with high energy density. A good rate capability is also observed for N-graphene which exhibits large capacities of 540 and 443 mA h g−1 at large currents of 1 A g−1 and 2 A g−1, respectively. It is demonstrated that N-graphene can be a promising candidate for anode materials in high capacity LIBs.