Abstract
Scalable preparation of graphene with high adsorption capacity is an important prerequisite for fully realizing its commercial application. Herein, we propose an environmentally friendly route for exfoliation of graphene, which is established based on the Diels–Alder reaction. In our route, N-(4-hydroxyl phenyl) maleimide enters between the flakes as an intercalating agent and participates in the Diels–Alder reaction as a dienophile to increase the interlayer spacing of graphite. Then, graphite is exfoliated into graphene with the aid of ultrasound. The exfoliated product is hydroxyl phenyl functionalized graphene with a thickness of 0.5–1.5 nm and an average lateral size of about 500–800 nm. The exfoliation process does not involve any acid or catalyst and would be a safe and environmentally friendly approach. In addition, the exfoliated graphite shows high resveratrol adsorption capacity, which is ten times that of macroporous resins reported in the literature. Thus, the method proposed herein yields exfoliated graphite with high resveratrol adsorption capacity and is of great significance for the mass production of graphene for practical applications.
Highlights
Graphene, a honeycomb-structured two-dimensional material with C=C bonds, is formed from sp2-hybridized carbon atoms
The exfoliated graphite compound obtained by the Diels–Alder reaction exhibited a fluffy sheet structure (Figure 1b), and the sheets were assembled to a tulle
The significantly different microstructures between the graphite flakes and exfoliated graphite compound (Figure 1a,b) indicate that graphite was successfully exfoliated into graphene sheets via the Diels–Alder reaction
Summary
A honeycomb-structured two-dimensional material with C=C bonds, is formed from sp2-hybridized carbon atoms. The bottom-up methods mainly include epitaxial growth on silicon carbide (SiC) [3,4,5] and chemical vapor deposition [6,7,8,9]. This approach can produce high-quality graphene sheets with perfect structure and large lateral area size but with higher production cost, lower production efficiency, and harsh reaction conditions, and it requires sophisticated equipment, greatly limiting its large-scale application. Mechanical and solution exfoliation methods can yield graphene, their low graphene-stripping efficiency limits their widespread application. In 2016, He et al [19] used oxone as an electrolyte to prepare graphene with
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