Adding ethanol can effectively enhance the graphene concentration in water-surfactant solutions

作者:Wang Shuai; Yi Min*; Shen Zhigang; Zhang Xiaojing; Ma Shulin
来源:RSC Advances, 2014, 4(48): 25374-25378.
DOI:10.1039/c4ra03345k

摘要

We demonstrate that in water-surfactant solutions, adding ethanol can lead to graphene dispersions of high concentration (similar to 0.46 mg mL(-1)). For both ionic and non-ionic surfactants, similar to 10 wt% addition of ethanol is found to enhance the exfoliation efficiency and thus the graphene concentration up to three times. This enhancement is attributed to the combination of decreasing mixing enthalpy by ethanol addition and enhancing stability of surfactants. This method opens a whole new vista for preparing high-concentration graphene dispersions.