Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:34:10.939Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Graphene Production With Stirred Media Mills

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Catharina Knieke
Affiliation:
Angela Berger
Affiliation:
[email protected], Institute of Particle Technology, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
Wolfgang Peukert
Affiliation:
[email protected], Institute of Particle Technology, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
Get access

Abstract

Since the discovery of stable graphene sheets by Novoselov und Geim in 2004 the one atom thick carbon material has been attracted great interest because of its outstanding physical, mechanical and chemical properties. Although there had been intensive research to find new ways in the preparation of single-layer graphene sheets in the last few years, especially the large-scale production of graphene still remains challenging. In this paper we present a new approach, which allows the high-yield production of graphene sheets in a simple stirred media milling process. Under mild milling conditions single- and multilayer graphene sheets have been successfully produced from commercial graphite powder in a liquid medium. During the delamination procedure, the graphite particles were stressed between the milling beads. Shear and compressive normal forces can lead under mild milling conditions, i.e. low stress energies, to a continuous mechanical peeling of graphene sheets from the graphite surface. By means of Atomic Force Microscopy a high yield of single- and multilayer graphene sheets was detected. A concentration of exfoliated sheets of 2 wt% starting from a 5 wt% suspension of coarse graphite particles could be determined after a milling time of only 3 h. This concentration is much higher than those, which were reached by most of the known chemical methods. Since stirred media milling can be realized as large-scale process, a high-yield and low-cost production of graphene flakes becomes possible at ambient temperature.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] Novoselov, K.S., Geim, A.K., Morozov, S.V., Jiang, D., Zhang, Y., Dubonos, S.V., Grigorieva, I.V., Firsov, A.A.. Electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films. Science (2004), 306 (5296), 666669.Google Scholar
[2] Geim, A.K., Novoselov, K.S.. The rise of graphene. Nature Materials (2007), 6(3), 183191.Google Scholar
[3] Knieke, C., Sommer, M., Peukert, W.. Identifying the apparent and true grinding limit. Powder Technology (2009), 195(1), 2530.Google Scholar
[4] Knieke, C., Berger, A., Voigt, M., Taylor, R. N. Klupp, Röhrl, J., Peukert, W.. Scalable production of graphene sheets by mechanical delamination. submitted.Google Scholar