Facile fabrication of highly flexible graphene paper for high-performance flexible lithium ion battery anode

Abstract

Freestanding paper-like materials prepared from chemically derived graphene have considerable potential as a carbon-based electrode in high-performance flexible energy storage devices. Herein, a highly flexible graphene paper (GP) assembled from graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) with the aid of graphene oxides (GOs) is reported for a high-performance, binder- and conducting additive-free anode in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In contrast to previous reports on GPs based on a flow-directed assembly of graphene sheets, this GNP/GO paper exhibited a highly wrinkled and disordered morphology. When the GNP/GO paper was applied as a LIB anode, it showed a high specific capacity of 694 mA h g⁻¹ and high rate performance. Furthermore, a pouch-type flexible LIB using the GNP/GO paper also showed a stable cycling behavior and practical performance. This GNP/GO paper electrode prepared using a simple, yet effective assembly of graphene derivatives, is highly promising for the fabrication of flexible energy storage devices.