Open AccessGlycol-Thermal Continuous Flow Synthesis of Graphene Gel
Author(s) -
Luke C. O. Prestowitz,
Jiaxing Huang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acs omega
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.779
H-Index - 40
ISSN - 2470-1343
DOI - 10.1021/acsomega.1c02589
Subject(s) - graphene , materials science , ethylene glycol , chemical engineering , dispersion (optics) , oxide , yield (engineering) , nanotechnology , graphene foam , boiling , graphene oxide paper , composite material , organic chemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , engineering , physics , optics
Hydrothermal treatment of graphene oxide (GO) aqueous dispersion has been extensively applied to create graphene (a.k.a., chemically modified graphene, or reduced GO) hydrogels, which were dried to yield high-density graphene monoliths and powders with promising potential for electrochemical energy storage applications. Here, we demonstrated a glycol-thermal route that allows the preparation of a graphene gel at around 150 °C, which is below the boiling point of ethylene glycol (EG) and thus eliminates the need for a sealed pressurized reaction vessel. As a result, flow synthesis can be achieved by flowing a GO dispersion in EG through a Teflon tube immersed in a preheated oil bath for continuous production of a graphene gel, which, upon drying, shrinks to yield a densified graphene solid.