3136 Chem. Mater. 2009, 21, 3136–3142 DOI:10.1021/cm900395k
Li Storage Properties of Disordered Graphene Nanosheets Dengyu Pan,*,† Song Wang,‡ Bing Zhao,*,‡ Minghong Wu,‡ Haijiao Zhang,† Yong Wang,‡ and Zheng Jiao‡ †
Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology and ‡School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 201800, P.R. China Received February 11, 2009. Revised Manuscript Received June 18, 2009
Graphene has aroused intensive interest because of its unique structure, superior properties, and various promising applications. Graphene nanostructures with significant disorder and defects have been considered to be poor materials because disorder and defects lower their electrical conductivity. In this paper, we report that highly disordered graphene nanosheets can find promising applications in high-capacity Li ion batteries because of their exceptionally high reversible capacities (7941054 mA h/g) and good cyclic stability. To understand the Li storage mechanism of graphene nanosheets, we have prepared graphene nanosheets with structural parameters tunable via different reduction methods including hydrazine reduction, low-temperature pyrolysis, and electron beam irradiation. The effects of these parameters on Li storage properties were investigated systematically. A key structural parameter, Raman intensity ratio of D bands to G bands, has been identified to evaluate the reversible capacity. The greatly enhanced capacity in disordered graphene nanosheets is suggested to be mainly ascribed to additional reversible storage sites such as edges and other defects. Introduction There is increasing worldwide demand for advanced Liion batteries (LIBs) with higher energy capacity and longer cycle lifetime for applications in mobile communication devices, portable electronic devices, electrical/ hybrid vehicles, and miscellaneous power devices. Traditional highly graphitized carbon anode materials show low Li storage capacity (