Abstract
Graphene has shown much promise as an organic electronic material but, despite recent achievements in the production of few-layer graphene, the quantitative exfoliation of graphite into pristine single-layer graphene has remained one of the main challenges in developing practical devices. Recently, reduced graphene oxide has been recognized as a non-feasible alternative to graphene owing to variable defect types and levels, and attention is turning towards reliable methods for the high-throughput exfoliation of graphite. Here we report that microwave irradiation of graphite suspended in molecularly engineered oligomeric ionic liquids allows for ultrahigh-efficiency exfoliation (93% yield) with a high selectivity (95%) towards 'single-layer' graphene (that is, with thicknesses <1nm) in a short processing time (30 minutes). The isolated graphene sheets show negligible structural deterioration. They are also readily redispersible in oligomeric ionic liquids up to ∼100 mg ml -1, and form physical gels in which an anisotropic orientation of graphene sheets, once induced by a magnetic field, is maintained.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 730-736 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Nature Chemistry |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 22 Sep 2015 |
Bibliographical note
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