Graphene mass production comes closer

There are already several technologies that potentially allow mass production of graphene sheets – by chemical vapour deposition growth; by epitaxial growth of graphene on top of a metal surface and various wet chemical processes of processing graphene in solution by exfoliating. In new work, Englert and a group of scientists from the University Erlangen-Nuremberg, led by Andreas Hirsch, have now demonstrated the first bulk wet chemical exfoliation of graphite in association with an in situ covalent functionalization of intermediately generated graphene. With this novel chemical method, it is now possible to achieve covalently bonded functionalities without mechanical or sonochemical treatment. The covalent functionalization also protects the single-layer graphene from reaggregation and substrate-induced doping. The Group has activated readily available graphite by reduction with a sodium/potassium alloy. The excessive negative charge eases the exfoliation of the sheets, and guarantees a facile reaction of in situ generated graphene with electrophiles.