Graphene formed into porous 3D structures for use in batteries

The study, conducted at Kyoto University, was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

Graphene is an ultra-thin sheet of carbon that possesses properties that include high mechanical stability and excellent electrical conductivity.

However, the thin structure of graphene also acts as a major obstacle for practical uses. When piecing together these sheets into larger structures, the sheets easily stack with one another, resulting in a significant loss of unique material properties. While several strategies have been proposed to deal with this problem, they are often costly, time consuming, and difficult to scale up.

To overcome this challenge, the researchers from the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) at Kyoto University borrowed a principle from polymer chemistry and developed it into a technique to assemble graphene into porous 3D architectures while preventing stacking between the sheets.

By putting graphene oxide into contact with an oppositely charged polymer, the two components could form a stable composite layer, a process also known as interfacial complexation.