TY - JOUR
T1 - High-yield exfoliation of graphene using ternary-solvent strategy for detecting volatile organic compounds
AU - Zhang, Shao Lin
AU - Zhang, Zhijun
AU - Yang, Woo Chul
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - Despite the great progress in the theory and experimental verification we made in past decade, the practical application of graphene is still hindered by the lack of efficient, economical, scalable, ease-processing exfoliation method. Herein, we propose a facile, low-cost, and efficient liquid-phase exfoliation process using low boiling-temperature solvent mixture to fabricate few-layer graphene in large scale. The Hansen solubility parameter theory was applied to help optimize the composition of solvent mixture. Aqueous-based ternary-solvent mixture, for the first time, was adapted to exfoliate graphene. We demonstrate that the exfoliation efficiency using ternary-solvent mixture surpasses that from binary-solvent approach. The final product concentration after optimization was over 260 μg/ml. The concentrated graphene dispersion was used to fabricate gas sensor for detecting volatile organic gases. Taking advantage of large surface area, large number of adsorption sites, and well-preserved basal plane, the mass-produced graphene nanosheets exhibited promising sensing potential toward ethanol and methanol vapors.
AB - Despite the great progress in the theory and experimental verification we made in past decade, the practical application of graphene is still hindered by the lack of efficient, economical, scalable, ease-processing exfoliation method. Herein, we propose a facile, low-cost, and efficient liquid-phase exfoliation process using low boiling-temperature solvent mixture to fabricate few-layer graphene in large scale. The Hansen solubility parameter theory was applied to help optimize the composition of solvent mixture. Aqueous-based ternary-solvent mixture, for the first time, was adapted to exfoliate graphene. We demonstrate that the exfoliation efficiency using ternary-solvent mixture surpasses that from binary-solvent approach. The final product concentration after optimization was over 260 μg/ml. The concentrated graphene dispersion was used to fabricate gas sensor for detecting volatile organic gases. Taking advantage of large surface area, large number of adsorption sites, and well-preserved basal plane, the mass-produced graphene nanosheets exhibited promising sensing potential toward ethanol and methanol vapors.
KW - Gas sensor
KW - Graphene
KW - Liquid-phase exfoliation
KW - Ternary-solvent strategy
KW - Volatile organic compounds
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84951989075&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.10.220
DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.10.220
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84951989075
SN - 0169-4332
VL - 360
SP - 323
EP - 328
JO - Applied Surface Science
JF - Applied Surface Science
ER -