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Graphene exfoliation with supercritical fluids

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Abstract

Graphene is an unconventional material with a two-dimensional hexagonal crystalline array of elemental carbon atoms and outstanding properties; accordingly, a desirable objective in the line of research of graphene is the development of novel and more productive methods of synthesis, validating its properties and applications. In our exploratory research, we have effectively exfoliated graphene from graphite using supercritical fluids (water, ethanol and carbon dioxide). The exfoliated graphene was properly characterized; via scanning electron microscopy, the morphology of graphene was observed; Raman spectra confirmed the exfoliation of graphene depicting the characteristic shift towards smaller Raman number in the 2D band (2676 cm−1) compared to that of graphite (≈ 2700 cm−1); transmission electron microscopy analysis exhibited the crystalline structure of graphene attesting also the expected transparency of exfoliated layers. Graphene exfoliation from graphite by supercritical fluids promises to be a simple large-scale method for graphene production.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon for consent of research leave for the corresponding author, and to Nagoya University/Venture Business Laboratory for providing with materials, equipment and facilities for conducting the research here described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Av. Universidad S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, 66455, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    Rodolfo Morales Ibarra

  2. Department of Materials Process Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Rodolfo Morales Ibarra, Motonobu Goto & Saida Mayela García Montes

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, High Pressure Processes Group, Universidad de Valladolid, S47011, Valladolid, Spain

    Juan García-Serna

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  1. Rodolfo Morales Ibarra
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  2. Motonobu Goto
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  3. Juan García-Serna
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  4. Saida Mayela García Montes
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Correspondence to Rodolfo Morales Ibarra.

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Morales Ibarra, R., Goto, M., García-Serna, J. et al. Graphene exfoliation with supercritical fluids. Carbon Lett. 31, 99–105 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-020-00153-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-020-00153-x

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