Chlorosulfonic Acid-based Room Temperature Chemical Expansion Route for the Bulk Production of Graphite Nanoplatelets

Abstract

We produced graphite nanoplatelets in high yield using a novel chlorosulfonic acid-induced room temperature expansion/exfoliation process. Characterization of the final products revealed high quality nanolayered graphite structures and their bulk films with volume resistivity as low as 20 Ohm-cm. A chemical mechanism was suggested for room temperature expansion of acid intercalated graphite which to our knowledge was demonstrated firstly in this study.

Keywords:

• Graphene
• room temperature exfoliation
• bulk production

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by Turkish Ministry of Industry and Trade Grant #153.TGSD. 2010. We wish to thank anonymous referees for their very valuable comments.