It is understood that in the power battery industry, the general rule is to define the battery by the component that plays the main role. Since the performance of power batteries is most closely related to the cathode material, they are generally named according to the cathode material, such as ternary lithium batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries, and lithium manganese oxide batteries.
In this sense, the term "graphene battery" should mean a battery whose cathode material is mainly graphene.
Graphene batteries are mainly manufactured using the following three processes:
1. Meteorological sedimentation method
The process mainly involves carbon-containing gases (methane, ethane) being exposed to certain temperatures and pressures, causing carbon atoms to attach to the growth substrate, forming a single-layer carbon structure that gradually grows.
The graphene produced by this process has a good structure and its size is not limited by the raw materials; however, the preparation process is complex and the production efficiency is low.
2. Oxidation-reduction method
First, graphite is oxidized layer by layer using an oxidizing agent. Then, the oxidized layers are peeled off using methods such as ultrasound. Finally, the oxidized graphite layers are reduced using a reducing agent to obtain graphene.
The advantages of this manufacturing process are low cost and high production efficiency; the disadvantages are that the size of the graphene battery is determined by the raw materials, and the oxidants and reducing agents used may pollute the environment.
3. Intercalation method
Intercalated materials are filled into the interlayer spaces of graphite to overcome the interlayer van der Waals forces, thus dispersing the layers and obtaining graphene. This method is still in the research and development stage.
