The Interlayer Interaction of Rotated Graphene Breaks the Barrier for Intense Lithium Intercalation Resulting in Li₂C₂ Formation.

The demand for Li-ion rechargeable batteries exponentially grows due to their ability to restore the charge and provide consistency in the voltage in long-term cycling. Graphitic Carbon materials are successfully used as an active anode material in Li-ion Batteries (LIB) due to the sp² electronic configuration of hexagonal Carbon. They remain the safest, most cost-efficient, and environmentally stable anode material providing high-power density and energy in long-term cycling compared to any other active materials. Besides many advances, graphitic carbon faces the challenge of intercalating larger amounts of Lithium due to prohibited Van-der Waals interlayer forces that limit the capacity of those batteries.<br/>HeXalayer develops a new type of incommensurate layered graphene consisting of over a 5° angle of closely packed rotated layers that serves as an advanced active anode for LIBs. The unique structural and binding features of pristine layered graphene will be discussed as beneficial for extreme Lithium diffusion.<br/>The advanced anodes perform up to 2,100 mAh/g reversible capacity as evidence of Li₂C₂ formation once initial graphene layers are freely stacked with an average interspace distance of 3.32-3.45Å. The study battery evaluation shows the feasibility of this graphene use as an advanced anode for the next generation of lightweight, fast charging powerful batteries.