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27 March 2010
Soluble Graphene Through Edge-Selective Functionalization
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Thermally expanded graphite was functionalized with 4-bromophenyl addends using the in situ diazonium formation procedure, and after mild sonication treatment in N, Nʹ-dimethylformamide, thin graphene layers were exfoliated from the bulk graphite. These chemically-assisted exfoliated graphene (CEG) sheets had higher solubility than pristine graphene without any stabilizer additive. More than 70% of these soluble flakes had less than 5 layers. Energy filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) elemental mapping provided evidence of the edge-selective diazonium functionalization with graphene. A majority of the Br signals came from the edges of the CEG indicating that the basal planes were not highly functionalized. The CEG was also characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy.
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Soluble Graphene Through Edge-Selective Functionalization
Abstract
Thermally expanded graphite was functionalized with 4-bromophenyl addends using the in situ diazonium formation procedure, and after mild sonication treatment in N, Nʹ-dimethylformamide, thin graphene layers were exfoliated from the bulk graphite. These chemically-assisted exfoliated graphene (CEG) sheets had higher solubility than pristine graphene without any stabilizer additive. More than 70% of these soluble flakes had less than 5 layers. Energy filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) elemental mapping provided evidence of the edge-selective diazonium functionalization with graphene. A majority of the Br signals came from the edges of the CEG indicating that the basal planes were not highly functionalized. The CEG was also characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy within the Hydrogen Sorption Center of Excellence, No. DE-FC- 36-05GO15073, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (CONTACT), the Office of Naval Research through a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) with the University of California, Berkeley (00006766), and the Advanced Energy Consortium (member companies include BP America Inc., Baker Hughes Inc., Conoco-Phillips, Halliburton Energy Services Inc., Marathon Oil Corp., Occidental Oil and Gas, Petrobras, Schlumberger, Shell, and Total) for financial support. Thanks to Dr. Wenhua Guo for assistance with the TEM.
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