Superior cycle stability of nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets as anodes for lithium ion batteries

The specific capacity of nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheet (N-GNS) evidently increases with charge/discharge cycles, exhibiting superior electrochemical performance. N-GNS presented a specific capacity of 684 mAh g(-1) in the 501st cycles while only 452 mAh g(-1) in the 100th cycle, accounting for higher cycling stability and larger specific capacity in comparison to a pristine graphene and a commercialized graphite anode. The obtained significant improvement is attributed to the incorporated nitrogen to graphene planes with a result of more structural defects during cycling. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.