GM and HRL Team Up to Use Vertically Aligned Graphene Nanosheets Which Increase Lithium Ion Electrode High-Rate Capability

Researchers from General Motors Global Research & Development Center and HRL Labs report enhancing the high rate capability of Li-ion anode materials through the used of vertically aligned graphene nanosheets on the current collector. Their paper is in press in the journal Electrochemistry Communications.

In this paper, we demonstrated that the high rate capability of electrode can be achieved by engineering the existing electrode materials. A simple approach has been developed to align the graphene nanosheet vertically on current collector, which not only facilitates both lithium ion and electron transport, but also simplifies the electrode fabrication without involving binder and conductive additives.

The charging rate for the optimized electrode structure can be significantly increased while the graphitic feature of the electrode still retains. We envision the use of this highly stable structure as an integral addition to high capacity anode materials for lithium ion batteries of high power and energy density.