Solvent-driven electron trapping and mass transport in reduced graphites to access perfect graphene

Philipp Vecera, Johannes Holzwarth, Konstantin F. Edelthalhammer, Udo Mundloch, Herwig Peterlik, Frank Hauke and Andreas Hirsch ()
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Philipp Vecera: University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Henkestrasse 42
Johannes Holzwarth: University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Henkestrasse 42
Konstantin F. Edelthalhammer: University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Henkestrasse 42
Udo Mundloch: University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Henkestrasse 42
Herwig Peterlik: University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Boltzmanngasse 5
Frank Hauke: University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Henkestrasse 42
Andreas Hirsch: University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Henkestrasse 42

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Herein, we report on a significant discovery, namely, the quantitative discharging of reduced graphite forms, such as graphite intercalation compounds, graphenide dispersions and graphenides deposited on surfaces with the simple solvent benzonitrile. Because of its comparatively low reduction potential, benzonitrile is reduced during this process to the radical anion, which exhibits a red colour and serves as a reporter molecule for the quantitative determination of negative charges on the carbon sheets. Moreover, this discovery reveals a very fundamental physical–chemical phenomenon, namely a quantitative solvent reduction induced and electrostatically driven mass transport of K+ ions from the graphite intercalation compounds into the liquid. The simple treatment of dispersed graphenides suspended on silica substrates with benzonitrile leads to the clean conversion to graphene. This unprecedented procedure represents a rather mild, scalable and inexpensive method for graphene production surpassing previous wet-chemical approaches.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12411

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