The synthesis of biographene oxide from the graphitic structure of PKS, EFB and OPF

Abstract

The increasing global demand for graphite and environmental issues due to the extraction of natural graphite has become motivations to improve the process development of synthetic graphite. However, the conventional process for synthetic graphite production requires high temperatures, extreme process conditions, and expensive equipment. This drives further research work on finding more straightforward options. This research study a simpler direct transformation method using Palm Kernel Shell (PKS), Oil Palm Fond (OPF, Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) as carbon precursors via a catalytic graphitization process. The process involved raw material preparation, carbonization process, Iron-Silica catalyst impregnation and graphitization. Three parameters were observed, including graphitization temperature, type of raw material and amount of Iron catalyst loadings. The Bio-synthetic graphite produced were later undergone an “improved method” to form Graphene Oxide (GO). The graphitic carbon produced was characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) Surface Area and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM). Overall successful transformation of amorphous carbon to graphitic structure for PKS, EFB, and OPF was evidenced by the XRD pattern and Raman spectra. It was found that PKS was the greatest carbon precursor for the graphitization process, followed by EFB and OPF. The former exhibited the nearest interlayer spacing to natural graphite with the lowest Id/Ig value. This can be seen from the HRTEM image of the PKS-1300-40 sample. The results attributed to the highest percentage of lignin in PKS rather than in EFB and OPF. A very significant transformation of bio-synthetic graphite to GO powder was also evidenced in XRD patterns and RAMAN spectroscopy. As for bio-synthetic graphene PKS, EFB and OPF depicted XRD patterns with broad peak centring around 2𝜃~25°. It was found an absence of GO characteristic peak at 2𝜃~10.7°.