Review-Rational Design of Nitrogen-doped Graphene as Anode Material for Lithium-ion Batteries

Nitrogen-doped graphene (N-doped Graphene; includes N-Gr and N-rGO), emerges as an interesting alternative for the development of new anodic materials for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Due to their characteristics, they can be used both as active materials and in combination with other materials for the formation of composites. As a consequence of the N-Gr synthesis methodology, the physicochemical and structural properties are variable, depending on the number of layers, nitrogen percentage and configuration in the doping product, the presence of oxygenated functional groups, the electroactive area, and the 2D structure or 3D of the material, among others. These properties are closely related to its electrochemical performance, affecting the number of active sites for lithiation, lithium diffusion rate and pathways through a battery system, charge transfer resistance, pseudo capacitive contribution, mechanical stability, among others. In this review, we comprehensively analyze the different characteristics of N-Gr based materials and their relationship with their performance as anodes in LIBs.