Hydraulic Power Manufacturing for Highly Scalable and Stable 2D Nanosheet Dispersions and Their Film Electrode Application

As 2D-nanosheet dispersions greatly facilitate solution-based processes, the preparation of 2D nanosheets in various solvents offers considerable potential in many applications, from electronics to energy storage and conversion. However, significant improvements are required in production cost, scalability, yield, and processability to realize the full potential of 2D nanosheets. Herein, a fast, scalable, and versatile hydraulic power process for the large-scale production of 2D nanosheets (graphene, MoS₂, and boron nitride) dispersed in water is presented. A controlled, wavy Taylor-vortex flow allows for a high-shear mixing process with efficient mass transfer. The use of an ionic liquid dramatically improves the exfoliation of 2D materials, resulting in an extremely high yield (76.9%), a high concentration (20 mg mL⁻¹), and a high production rate (8.6 g h⁻¹). The computational fluid dynamics simulations reveal that the improved exfoliation performance originates from the high-shear mixing process, and the first-principles calculations rationalize this performance via the high adsorption energies of ionic liquids on 2D nanosheets. The highly stable 2D nanosheet dispersions efficiently facilitating the postprocesses of vacuum filtration and inkjet printing, resulting in highly conductive circuits and high-performance film electrodes for energy-storage applications, are also demonstrated.