High-quality few layer graphene produced by electrochemical intercalation and microwave-assisted expansion of graphite

✍ Scribed by Gustavo M. Morales; Pablo Schifani; Gary Ellis; Carmen Ballesteros; Gerardo Martínez; César Barbero; Horacio J. Salavagione

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 701 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-6223
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2011.03.008

✦ Synopsis

Few-layer graphene is synthesized from electrochemically-produced graphite intercalation compounds in aqueous perchloric acid. Although anodic intercalation is more efficient in terms of time, cathodic pre-treatment is preferred to avoid the formation of graphite oxide.

The materials are characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, UV-visible, infrared and Raman spectroscopy. We demonstrate that the method, under the experimental conditions used in this work, does not produce damage to the sp 2 carbon lattice. The synthetic approach using electrochemicalpotential control is very promising to obtain, in a controllable manner, graphene with different degrees of oxidation.