An eco-friendly solution for liquid phase exfoliation of graphite under optimised ultrasonication conditions

Morton, Justin A.; Kaur, Amanpreet; Khavari, Mohammad; Tyurnina, Anastasia V.; Priyadarshi, Abhinav; Eskin, Dmitry G.; Mi, Jiawei; Porfyrakis, Kyriakos; Prentice, Paul; Tzanakis, Iakovos

Abstract

Ultrasonic assisted liquid phase exfoliation (ULPE) is a promising method for the large scale production of 2D materials. Currently, toxic solvents such as N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) are commonly used for the production of graphene. In this paper four solvents; three green solvents (water, ethanol and water/ethanol) plus NMP for comparison, were sonicated and examined in terms of their bubble dynamics and acoustic emissions. Advanced fundamental analysis was conducted using high-speed imaging synchronised with acoustic pressure measurements complemented by shadowgraphic photography of the emitted shockwaves, in order to determine a suitable eco-friendly solvent medium from a cavitation bubbles dynamics perspective. Thereafter, ULPE of graphite in the optimum solvent took place for 2 h under controlled ultrasonication parameters. The produced graphene samples were characterised by employing a series of techniques consisting of Ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) and Raman spectroscopy as well as transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A mixture of deionised water and ethanol was shown to produce a yield twice that of pure water, comprising of high quality few layer graphene (3–5 Ls) with an average area of ∼1.15 (μm)2 and stability of ∼78% for the duration of six months. This combination is a promising eco-friendly substitute for future commercial manufacturing of graphene.

Citation

Morton, J. A., Kaur, A., Khavari, M., Tyurnina, A. V., Priyadarshi, A., Eskin, D. G., Mi, J., Porfyrakis, K., Prentice, P., & Tzanakis, I. (2023). An eco-friendly solution for liquid phase exfoliation of graphite under optimised ultrasonication conditions. Carbon, 204, 434-446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2022.12.070

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 26, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Dec 29, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jun 26, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 28, 2024
• Journal: Carbon
• Print ISSN: 0008-6223
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 204
• Pages: 434-446
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2022.12.070
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4337995