Flame treatment of graphene oxides: cost-effective production of nanoporous graphene electrode for Lithium-ion batteries

A facile production of highly porous graphene foam by using flame treatment of graphene oxide (GO) is proposed. Highly porous architectures with randomly distributed micro-crack and micro-slit were produced due to the high temperature induced ruinous reduction and rapid expansion of GO. Synchronously, abundant oxygen-containing groups (OCGs) on GO sheets could be effectively removed after flame treatment, which renders significantly increased conductivity to the resultant flame reduced GO (FR-GO). The synergistic effect of micro/nanostructuring and the OCGs removal makes FR-GO a promising candidate for electrode materials. Compared with chemically reduced GO (CR-GO), FR-GO delivers much higher specific capacity. It gives us some hints that flame treatment of graphene-based material is a smart strategy for cost-effective production of anode materials for commercial application.