Boost charging lithium-ion battery using expanded graphite anode with enhanced performance

Expanded graphite (EG) for fasting charging was prepared via a facile chemical and thermal exfoliation process. EG specimens yielded through two step exfoliation process for 30, 60, and 90 min (named EG30, EG60, and EG90) served as high-performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). EG60 exhibited the highest specific capacity of 185 mAh g−1 at an ultrafast charging of 1000 mA g−1 after 500 cycles. Furthermore, EG60 had an initial specific capacity of 326 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 compared to 247 mAh g−1 of commercial pristine graphite (PG). EG60 showed the enhanced performance compared to previous reports of EG anodes in LIBs and even other types of metal-based batteries (Na, K-ions batteries). Overall, the results provided a new ideas for enhancing the performance of graphite anode at fast charging attributed to the increased interlayer graphitic spacing with various defects for fast Li ion intercalation.