Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Materials Engineering Dept., University of Technology-Iraq, Alsina’a street,10066 Baghdad, Iraq.

Abstract

Graphene is one of the most important forms of carbon. Due to its exceptional physical, chemical, and mechanical properties, it’s used in different fields such as electronic, energy storage, and medical applications. Therefore, the production of graphene in large quantities, at a low cost, and high quality, has become critical. Using graphite powder, a few layers of graphene sheets were prepared via a series of mechanical exfoliation methods. the dry ball milling process by the planetary mill was used. Thereafter, the milling was followed by shear force and then supported by ultra-sonication to reach the lowest level of the graphene layers. Morphological properties were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Also, structural characterizations were investigated using Raman spectra and X-ray diffraction measurements (XRD) and (FTIR). Findings presented in this research highlighted that the synthesis method followed was found to have several advantages, including low cost and the ease of producing a few layers of graphene nanosheets. Subsequently, the promising efficiency of the used methodology is important.

Highlights

  • Graphene nanosheets were prepared via a series of mechanical exfoliation methods.
  • Raman spectra confirm that obtained graphene has the fewest number of layers.
  • According to the result of XRD, the obtained graphene layer has a thickness of 0.34nm.
  • The route used is a way of producing low-cost graphene at a high production rate.

[1] A. M. Rao and M. S. Dresselhaus, Nanostructured forms of carbon: an overview, Nanostructured Carbon Adv. Appl., Springer, 1st edition, Netherlands, 3–24, (2001).
[2] T. C. Dinadayalane and J. Leszczynski, Fundamental structural, electronic, and chemical properties of carbon nanostructures: graphene, fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and their derivatives, Handb. Comput. Chem., 2, 793–867, (2012).
[3] K. I. Tserpes and N. Silvestre, Modeling of carbon nanotubes, graphene and their composites, Springer, 188, 1st edition, Switzerland, (2014).
[4] K. S. NovoselovA. K. GeimS. V. MorozovD JiangY. ZhangS. V. DubonosI. V. GrigorievaA. A. Firsov, Electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films, Science, 306, 5696, (2004), 666–669.
[5] J. Yao, Y. Sun, M. Yang, and Y. Duan, Chemistry, physics and biology of graphene-based nanomaterials: new horizons for sensing, imaging and medicine, J. Mater. Chem., 22, 29, (2012), 14313–14329.
[6] M. I. Katsnelson, Graphene: carbon in two dimensions, Materials today, 10, 1-2, (2007),20-27.
[7] U. K. Sur, Graphene: a rising star on the horizon of materials science, Int. J. Electrochem., 12, 1, (2012).1-12.
[8] S. Ganguly, D. Banerjee, and K. Kargupta, Nanotechnology and nanomaterials for new and sustainable energy engineering, Proceedings of the international conference nanomaterials: applications and properties, 1,4, (2012),1-5.
[9] S. K. Tiwari, V. Kumar, A. Huczko, R. Oraon, A. De Adhikari, and G. C. Nayak, Magical allotropes of carbon: prospects and applications, Crit. Rev. Solid State Mater. Sci., 41, 4, (2016),257–317.
[10] W. Choi, I. Lahiri, R. Seelaboyina, and Y. S. Kang, Synthesis of graphene and its applications: a review, Crit. Rev. Solid State Mater. Sci., 35, 1, (2010),52–71.
[11] I. Khalil, N. M. Julkapli, W. A. Yehye, W. J. Basirun, and S. K. Bhargava, Graphene–gold nanoparticles hybrid—synthesis, functionalization, and application in a electrochemical and surface-enhanced raman scattering biosensor, Materials (Basel)., 9, 6, (2016),1-38.
[12] W. Zhao, M. Fang, F. Wu, H. Wu, L. Wang, and G. Chen, Preparation of graphene by exfoliation of graphite using wet ball milling, J. Mater. Chem., 20, 28, (2010), 5817–5819.
[13] E.Varrla, K. R. Paton, C. Backes, A. Harvey, R. J. Smith, J. McCaule & J. N. Coleman, Turbulence-assisted shear exfoliation of graphene using household detergent and a kitchen blender, Nanoscale, 6, 20, (2014), 11810–11819.
[14] Z. Ismail, N. F. A. Kassim, A. H. Abdullah, A. S. Z. Abidin, F. S. Ismail, and K. Yusoh, Black tea assisted exfoliation using a kitchen mixer allowing one-step production of graphene, Mater. Res. Express, 4, 7, (2017), 1-11.
[15] Y. Z. N. Htwe, W. S. Chow, Y. Suda, A. A. Thant, and M. Mariatti, Effect of electrolytes and sonication times on the formation of graphene using an electrochemical exfoliation process, Appl. Surf. Sci., 469, (2019), 951–961.
[16] G. Huang, C. Lv, J. He, X. Zhang, C. Zhou, P. Yang & H. Huang, Study on preparation and characterization of graphene based on ball milling method, J. Nanomater., (2020), 1-11.
[17] P. Kun, F. Wéber, and C. Balázsi, Preparation and examination of multilayer graphene nanosheets by exfoliation of graphite in high efficient attritor mill,Cent. Eur. J. Chem., 9, 1, (2011), 47–51.
[18] T. Xing, J. Sunarso, W. Yang, Y. Yin, A. M. Glushenkov, L. H. Li & Y. Chen, Ball milling: a green mechanochemical approach for synthesis of nitrogen doped carbon nanoparticles, Nanoscale, 5, 17, (2013), 7970–7976.
[19] S. Yousef, A. Mohamed, and M. Tatariants, Mass production of graphene nanosheets by multi-roll milling technique, Tribol. Int., 121, (2018), 54–63.
[20] M. Yi and Z. Shen, Kitchen blender for producing high-quality few-layer graphene, Carbon N. Y., 78, (2014), 622–626.
[21]  A. Ciesielski and P. Samori, Graphene via sonication assisted liquid-phase exfoliation, Chem. Soc. Rev., 43, 1, (2014),381–398.
[22] I. Childres, L. A. Jauregui, W. Park, H. Cao, and Y. P. Chen, Raman spectroscopy of graphene and related materials, New Dev. Phot. Mater. Res., 1, (2013),1–20.
[23] T. Qiu, J.-G. Yang, X.-J. Bai, and Y.-L. Wang, The preparation of synthetic graphite materials with hierarchical pores from lignite by one-step impregnation and their characterization as dye absorbents, RSC Adv., 9, 22, (2019),12737–12746.
[24] M. Matsumoto, Y. Saito, C. Park, T. Fukushima, and T. Aida, Ultrahigh-throughput exfoliation of graphite into pristine ‘single-layer’ graphene using microwaves and molecularly engineered ionic liquids, Nat. Chem., 7, 9, (2015),730–736.
[25] D.L. Sparks, A.L. Page, P.A. Helmke, R.H. Loeppert, P. N. Soltanpour, M. A. Tabatabai, C. T. Johnston, M. E. Sumner, Methods Soil Analysis: Part 3 Chemical Methods, Soil Science Society of America, 1st edition, USA, 1, Ch.10, 269–321, (1996).
[26] V. Ţucureanu, A. Matei, and A. M. Avram, FTIR spectroscopy for carbon family study, Crit. Rev. Anal. Chem., 46, 6, (2016), 502–520.