Abstract
Porous three dimensional (3D) graphene macrostructures have demonstrated the potential in versatile applications in recent years, including energy storage, sensors, and environment protection, etc. However, great research attention has been focused on the optimization of the structure and properties of graphene-based materials. Comparatively, there are less reports on how to shape 3D graphene macrostructures rapidly and effortlessly, which is critical for mass production in industry. Here, we introduce a facile and efficient method, low temperature frying to form graphene-based spongy balls in liquid nitrogen with a yield of ~400 balls min−1. Moreover, the fabrication process can be easily accelerated by using multi pipettes working at the same time. The graphene spongy balls show energy storage with a specific capacitance of 124 F g−1 and oil adsorbing with a capacity of 105.4 times its own weight. This strategy can be a feasible approach to overcome the low efficiency in production and speed up the development of porous 3D graphene-based macrostructures in industrial applications.
Highlights
Since great progress of graphene synthesis techniques has been made in recent years[1,2,3], massive production of graphene nanosheets with desirable properties have been emerged
The graphene oxide (GO) drops were dripped into liquid nitrogen (−196 °C), which was stored in a thermal insulation container
By using hydrazine hydrate as reduction agent, GO spongy balls (GOSB) were chemically reduced into graphene spongy balls (GSB), with their color turning to black
Summary
Since great progress of graphene synthesis techniques has been made in recent years[1,2,3], massive production of graphene nanosheets with desirable properties have been emerged. Some researchers have investigated the inclusion of spacers to enlarge GO layer spacing by introducing polymer beads or nanoparticles as nanofillers[22,23] Those developments have explored new directions to achieve various kinds of graphene-based macrostructures with expected properties for a variety of applications such as biochemical sensors, energy storage and environment protection. Despite the advantages of previous methods, they leave the common challenge to massive, continuous synthesis of 3D graphene frameworks, due to www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Their complicated and manpower-consuming fabrication process, which will strongly hinder the development in real life applications. GSB showed an oil-adsorbing capacity as high as 105.4 times its own weight Based on these promising properties, the present production strategy can be developed to an efficient technique to meet the criteria of labor-saving, massive and low-cost production in industrial practice
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