Large scale production of nanoporous graphene sheets and their application in lithium ion battery

Nanoporous graphene sheets were generated through a simple thermal annealing procedure using composites of ferrocene nanoparticles and graphene oxide sheets as precursors in a large scale. The morphology, composition, and formation mechanism of the as-obtained nanoporous graphene sheets were studied complementarily with scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and other spectroscopy techniques. We found that the density of nanopores on the graphene sheet was determined by the surface distribution of oxygen-containing groups on the original graphene oxide sheets. The coin cells using nanoporous graphene sheets as anode materials showed higher specific lithium ion storage capacity, better discharge/charge rate capability and higher cycling stability when compared to the coin cells with graphene or chemically reduced graphene sheets as anodes.