Graphene has attracted substantial attention due to its exceptional mechanical, thermal, electrical, and chemical properties. There has been active research for the scalable production of high-quality graphene. Among various techniques, electrochemical exfoliation is facile, fast, and cost-effective for graphene production. Our previous finding on anodic exfoliation suggested that the binding energy between the intercalator and graphene sheet plays an important role in exfoliation efficiency.¹ We further extended the hypothesis to the cathodic exfoliation process to produce high-quality graphene. The characteristics and morphologies of electrochemically exfoliated graphene using alkali metals (e.g. Na, K, and Cs) are compared. Then, we will employ the exfoliated graphene on lithium metal anodes as carbon support for efficient lithium deposition in lithium metal batteries.

References

1. Lee, H.; Choi, J. I.; Park, J.; Jang, S. S.; Lee, S. W. Role of anions on electrochemical exfoliation of graphite into graphene in aqueous acids. Carbon 2020, 167, 816-825.