Producing graphene nanosheets by pulsed laser ablation: Effects of liquid environment

Abstract

Effects of liquid environment on the characteristics of graphene nanosheets produced by the laser ablation method have been studied experimentally. The fundamental wavelength of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm with 7 ns pulse width and 5 Hz repetition rate was employed to irradiate a graphite target in distilled water, liquid nitrogen, alcohol, acetone, and two concentrations of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. Produced carbon nanostructures were diagnosed using Ultraviolet-Visible-Near Infrared and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscope images. Results show that different carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanoparticles and fluorine, as well as graphene nanosheets were formed in various liquid environments. The size and morphology of nanostructures strongly depends on the liquid environments and, among these liquids, water is the most capable one to produce graphene nanosheets.