Amine-based solvents for exfoliating graphite to graphene outperform the dispersing capacity of N-methyl-pyrrolidone and surfactants

• DOI: 10.1039/c4cc03923h
• Publication Date: 2014-07-03T14:03:42Z
• Authors: Zhenyu Sun; Xing Huang; Fang Liu; Xiaoning Yang; Christoph Rösler; Roland A. Fischer; Martin Muhler; Wolfgang Schuhmann
• Keywords: Exfoliation joint; Zeolitic imidazolate framework; Imidazolate

Four organic amine-based solvents were discovered which enable direct exfoliation of graphite to produce high-quality and oxygen-free graphene nanosheets. These outperform previously used additives such as N-methyl-pyrrolidone surfactants in terms their dispersing capacity. The resulting dispersions allow the facile fabrication zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)–graphene nanocomposites with remarkable CO2 storage capability.