Eco-friendly synthesis of graphene using high pressure airless spray system

The efficiency of this process, combined with lower processing times in the airless spray route ensures that the cost for producing graphene remains low making it an ideal producing route for industrial use, notes Prof A. S. Khanna, (Retd) IIT Bombay

- A. S. Khanna

Abstract

Graphene appears to be a wonder material of the present decade. Its special properties such as electrical conductivity, electronic mobility, mechanical strength, and optical properties have caught the attention of both the scientific as well as industrial communities. One of the biggest bottlenecks of its widespread usage is its availability in large volumes. Hence any research that focuses on industrial scalable production is the need of the hour. Keeping this in mind, a novel high pressure eco-friendly approach has been developed to produce graphene that can cater to the industrial demands of graphene.

Introduction

Graphene, also termed as the “wonder material,” has generated a lot of curiosity in the scientific and industrial community since its invention in 2004[1]. Graphene is a two dimensional structure consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms. With a tensile strength of 130GPa[2], graphene is the strongest material ever discovered. It has extremely high electrical conductivity and electron mobility[3]. Any application of graphene will find it difficult to see the light of the day unless it is available in plenty from an eco-friendly synthesis method.

There have been multiple graphene-producing routes which either use Chemical Vapor Deposition or chemical and mechanical energy to exfoliate graphite into graphene. Unfortunately, these routes suffer from high cost, low yield or a combination of these factors. Hence, developing an alternate route of graphene production was warranted that can help cater to the large volumes of defect free graphene requirement.