Improvement of solvent affinity for graphene derivatives by solution plasma process

Abstract

A solution plasma (SP) process was employed to obtain hydrophilic graphene derivatives. Three different SP treatment time durations of 5, 10, and 15 min were applied as the experimental parameter to a sample solution including graphite in 9% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) aqueous solution. The prepared graphene derivatives showed high dispersibility in contrast to that from natural graphite. The average particle size and absolute value of zeta potential of the obtained samples decreased as the SP treatment time increased. The particle size of SP-treated graphene derivatives in the supernatant linearly decreased depending on the SP treatment duration. The required particle size between 1.6 and 2.5 µm was obtained by SP treatment (i.e., reaction control was achieved). It was clearly shown that the necessary reaction time for graphene treatment using SP processing was much shorter than that by the modified Hummers method.