Novel science perfects graphene synthesis
8 Sep 2014
Discovering new ways of manufacturing graphene could dramatically increase industrial-scale production capabilities.
Researchers at Penn State University (PSU), US have developed a new method of creating single sheets of graphene without damaging any element of the materials’ structure.
The researchers suggest the discovery could make it easier to ramp-up graphene production to an industrial scale.
The PSU technique is said to have been overlooked for more than 150 years since experts first intercalated graphite in 1841.
“If the reaction didn’t work I would owe her $100, and if it did she would owe me $10
PSU professor Thomas E. Mallouk
“There are lots of layered materials similar to graphene with interesting properties, but until now we didn’t know how to chemically pull the solids apart to make single sheets without damaging the layers,” said Thomas E. Mallouk, Evan Pugh professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at PSU.
In an article published in the journal Nature Chemistry, Mallouk and his colleagues describe ’intercalation’, in which guest molecules or ions are inserted between the carbon layers of graphite to pull the single sheets apart.
As part of the preliminary experimentation, Mallouk and his team used a strong oxidising agent and a mixture of acids, to open up single layers of solid boron nitride, a compound with a structure similar to graphite.
This method was first developed in 1999 by Nina Kovtyukhova, a research associate in Mallouk’s laboratory.
Realising that various agents were not necessary for intercalation to take place, Mallouk applied Kovtyukhova’s method to graphene production.
“I kept asking her [Kovtyukhova] to try it and she kept saying no,” Mallouk said.
“Finally, we made a bet, and to make it interesting I gave her odds. If the reaction didn’t work I would owe her $100, and if it did she would owe me $10. I have the 10 dollar bill on my wall with a nice Post-it note from Nina complimenting my chemical intuition.”
Mallouk said the results of this new understanding of intercalation in boron nitride and graphene could be applied to a variety of other layered materials of interest to researchers in the PSU Center for Two-Dimensional and Layered Materials.
Looking ahead, Mallouk and colleagues intend to figure out how to increase the rate of reaction in order to scale up production.
