Rapid production of few layer graphene for energy storage via dry exfoliation of expansible graphite

Abstract

Contrasted with the excellent properties of graphene, searching for an effective industrial production method is still necessary for progressing from the laboratory to commercial applications. This study presents a rapid and mass production method to get large-scale few layer graphene using the expansivity of expansible graphite. Under a suitable thermal treatment temperature (550 °C), the interlayer spacing of expansible graphite can increase sharply, then assisted with simple mechanical crushing, large-scale few layer graphene are obtained. By this dry exfoliation method, we exfoliated expansible graphite into graphene with high quality and structural integrity. The method can be achieved with yield of 93% and the Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results show the nanosheets have a thickness about 2.3 nm. Using the availability of this method, we show the excellent application values of graphene in phase change material (PCM) field for energy storage. This work shows huge potential applications of graphene in many practical fields.