Graphene-metal hybrid foam-based electrode for an alkali metal battery

1. An alkali metal battery comprising an anode, a cathode, an electrolyte in ionic contact with said anode and said cathode, and an optional porous separator electronically separating said anode and said cathode, wherein said anode comprises a graphene-metal hybrid foam composed of multiple pores, pore walls, and a lithium-attracting metal or sodium-attracting metal residing in said pores or deposited on said pore walls; wherein said lithium-attracting metal is selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Mg, Zn, Ti, Na, K, Al, Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Sn, V, Cr, and an alloy thereof for a lithium metal battery, or said sodium-attracting metal is selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Mg, Zn, Ti, Li, K, Al, Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Sn, V, Cr, and an alloy thereof for a sodium metal battery, and is in an amount of 0.1% to 90% of the total hybrid foam weight, and said pore walls contain single-layer or few-layer graphene sheets, wherein said few-layer graphene sheets have 2-10 layers of stacked graphene planes having an inter-plane spacing d 002 from 0.3354 nm to 0.40 nm as measured by X-ray diffraction and said single-layer or few-layer graphene sheets contain a pristine graphene material having essentially zero % of non-carbon elements, or a non-pristine graphene material having 0.001% to 25% by weight of non-carbon elements wherein said non-pristine graphene is selected from the group comprising graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, and a combination thereof.

2. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , further comprising an additional separate, discrete anode current collector in contact with said anode, and/or a separate, discrete cathode current collector in contact with said cathode.

3. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said cathode comprises a graphene foam composed of multiple pores and pore walls, wherein said pore walls contain single-layer or few-layer graphene sheets, wherein said few-layer graphene sheets have 2-10 layers of stacked graphene planes having an inter-plane spacing d 002 from 0.3354 nm to 0.40 nm as measured by X-ray diffraction and said single-layer or few-layer graphene sheets contain a pristine graphene material having essentially zero % of non-carbon elements, or a non-pristine graphene material having 0.001% to 25% by weight of non-carbon elements wherein said non-pristine graphene is selected from graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof.

4. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam, when measured without said metal, has a density from 0.005 to 1.7 g/cm 3 , a specific surface area from 50 to 3,200 m 2 /g, a thermal conductivity of at least 200 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 2,000 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

5. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said pore walls contain a pristine graphene and said graphene-metal hybrid foam, when measured without said metal, has a density from 0.1 to 1.7 g/cm 3 , an average pore size from 2 nm to 50 nm, and a specific surface area from 300 m 2 /g to 3,200 m 2 /g.

6. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said pore walls contain a non-pristine graphene material and wherein said foam contains a content of non-carbon elements in the range of 0.01% to 20% by weight and said non-carbon elements include an element selected from oxygen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, nitrogen, hydrogen, or boron.

7. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said battery is in a continuous-length filament, wire, or sheet form having a thickness or diameter from 200 nm to 10 cm.

8. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam, when measured without said metal, has an oxygen content or non-carbon content less than 1% by weight, and said pore walls have an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.35 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 250 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 2,500 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

9. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam, when measured without said metal, has an oxygen content or non-carbon content less than 0.01% by weight and said pore walls contain stacked graphene planes having an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.34 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 300 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 3,000 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

10. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam, when measured without said metal, has an oxygen content or non-carbon content no greater than 0.01% by weight and said pore walls contain stacked graphene planes having an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.336 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 350 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 3,500 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

11. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam, when measured without said metal, has pore walls containing stacked graphene planes having an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.336 nm, a thermal conductivity greater than 400 W/mK per unit of specific gravity, and/or an electrical conductivity greater than 4,000 S/cm per unit of specific gravity.

12. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein the pore walls contain stacked graphene planes having an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.337 nm and a mosaic spread value less than 1.0.

13. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said pore walls contain a 3D network of interconnected graphene planes.

14. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam, when measured without said metal, has a physical density higher than 0.8 g/cm 3 and a specific surface area greater than 800 m 2 /g.

15. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam, when measured without said metal, has a physical density higher than 1.0 g/cm 3 and a specific surface area greater than 500 m 2 /g.

16. The alkali metal battery of claim 1 , wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam is pre-loaded with lithium or sodium before the battery is made, or the anode further comprises a lithium source or a sodium source.

17. The alkali metal battery of claim 16 , wherein said lithium source is selected from foil, particles, or filaments of lithium metal or lithium alloy having no less than 80% by weight of lithium element in said lithium alloy; or wherein said sodium source is selected from foil, particles, or filaments of sodium metal or sodium alloy having no less than 80% by weight of sodium element in said sodium alloy.

18. An alkali metal battery electrode comprising a graphene-metal hybrid foam composed of multiple pores, pore walls, and a lithium-attracting metal or sodium-attracting metal residing in said pores or deposited on said pore walls; wherein said lithium-attracting metal is selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Mg, Zn, Ti, Na, K, Al, Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Sn, V, Cr, and an alloy thereof for a lithium metal battery, or said sodium-attracting metal is selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Mg, Zn, Ti, Li, K, Al, Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Sn, V, Cr, and an alloy thereof for a sodium metal battery, and is in an amount of 0.1% to 50% of the total hybrid foam weight, and said pore walls contain single-layer or few-layer graphene sheets, wherein said few-layer graphene sheets have 2-10 layers of stacked graphene planes having an inter-plane spacing d 002 from 0.3354 nm to 0.40 nm as measured by X-ray diffraction and said single-layer or few-layer graphene sheets contain a pristine graphene material having essentially zero % of non-carbon elements, or a non-pristine graphene material having 0.001% to 25% by weight of non-carbon elements wherein said non-pristine graphene is selected from a group consisting of graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, and a combination thereof.

19. An alkali metal battery having a cathode, an anode comprising the electrode of claim 18 , a porous separator electronically separating said anode and said cathode, and/or an electrolyte in ionic contact with said anode and said cathode, wherein said graphene-metal hybrid foam is pre-loaded, prior to battery fabrication, with lithium or sodium to an extent that a weight ratio of said lithium to said lithium-attracting metal or a weight ratio of said sodium to said sodium-attracting metal is from 1/100 to 100/1.