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Surfactant-free single-layer graphene in water

Nature Chemistry volume 9, pages 347–352 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Dispersing graphite in water to obtain true (single-layer) graphene in bulk quantity in a liquid has been an unreachable goal for materials scientists in the past decade. Similarly, a diagnostic tool to identify solubilized graphene in situ has been long awaited. Here we show that homogeneous stable dispersions of single-layer graphene (SLG) in water can be obtained by mixing graphenide (negatively charged graphene) solutions in tetrahydrofuran with degassed water and evaporating the organic solvent. In situ Raman spectroscopy of these aqueous dispersions shows all the expected characteristics of SLG. Transmission electron and atomic force microscopies on deposits confirm the single-layer character. The resulting additive-free stable water dispersions contain 400 m2 l–1 of developed graphene surface. Films prepared from these dispersions exhibit a conductivity of up to 32 kS m–1.

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Figure 1: Preparation of SLGiw.
Figure 2: Raman spectroscopy of SLGiw.
Figure 3: Characterization of deposits from SLGiw.
Figure 4: Graphene interflake interaction.

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Acknowledgements

Support from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (GRAAL) and the Linde Corporation is acknowledged. A.P. thanks Nacional de Grafite (Brazil) for a gift of natural graphite. This work was carried out within the framework of GDR-I 3217 ‘graphene and nanotubes’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal (CRPP), UPR 8641, Pessac, F-33600, France

    George Bepete, Kai Huang, Alain Pénicaud & Carlos Drummond

  2. Université Bordeaux, CRPP, UPR 8641, Pessac, F-33600, France

    George Bepete, Kai Huang, Alain Pénicaud & Carlos Drummond

  3. Université de Montpellier, Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR CNRS 5521, Montpellier, F-34095, France

    Eric Anglaret

  4. CNR IMM-Bologna, Via Gobetti 101, Bologna, 40129, Italy

    Luca Ortolani & Vittorio Morandi

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  1. George Bepete
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Contributions

G.B. prepared and characterized SLGiw. K.H. and C.D. recorded the AFM images. L.O. and V.M. made the TEM analysis. G.B., E.A., A.P. and C.D. planned the experiments, analysed the experimental data and wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Alain Pénicaud or Carlos Drummond.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Bepete, G., Anglaret, E., Ortolani, L. et al. Surfactant-free single-layer graphene in water. Nature Chem 9, 347–352 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2669

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