Liquid-Phase Exfoliation of Graphene in Organic Solvents with Addition of Picric Acid

In this work, graphene was produced by liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite in different organic solvents with addition of picric acid. The graphene was easily produced by one step ultra-sonication of graphite powder in the organic solvents. The addition of picric acid has increased the graphene production yield in most of the solvents tested in this work. Picric acid serves as a “molecular wedge” to intercalate into the edge of graphite, which plays a key role during sonication and significantly improves the production yield of graphene. The products were analyzed by microscopic techniques, including atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The AFM images indicate that the exfoliation efficiency and amount of graphene increased by addition of picric acid in organic solvents. Moreover, the AFM images also indicate presence of bilayer graphene. SEM analysis also shows that the addition of picric acid into the organic solvent favors the exfoliation process. The produced graphene was also analyzed by XRD, FTIR, Raman and UV-visible spectroscopy. The XRD results illustrate that exfoliation was best achieved in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as a solvent. FTIR and Raman results indicate that addition of picric acid has slightly defected the produced graphene surface. The amount of graphene concentration was calculated by using Beer Lambert law, and it was observed that the graphene production yield was increased by using picric acid in most of the solvents. The maximum amount of graphene concentration (0.159 mg/ml) was achieved by adding 30 mg of picric acid in NMP.