Environmentally Friendly Graphene Inks for Touch Screen Sensors

Graphene-based materials have attracted significant attention in many technological fields, but scaling up graphene-based technologies still faces substantial challenges. High-throughput top-down methods generally require hazardous, toxic, and high-boiling-point solvents. Here, an efficient and inexpensive strategy is proposed to produce graphene dispersions by liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) through a combination of shear-mixing (SM) and tip sonication (TS) techniques, yielding highly concentrated graphene inks compatible with spray coating. The quality of graphene flakes (e.g., lateral size and thickness) and their concentration in the dispersions are compared using different spectroscopic and microscopy techniques. Several approaches (individual SM and TS, and their combination) are tested in three solvents (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, dimethylformamide, and cyrene). Interestingly, the combination of SM and TS in cyrene yields high-quality graphene dispersions, overcoming the environmental issues linked to the other two solvents. Starting from the cyrene dispersion, a graphene-based ink is prepared to spray-coat flexible electrodes and assemble a touch screen prototype. The electrodes feature a low sheet resistance (290 Ω □⁻¹) and high optical transmittance (78%), which provide the prototype with a high signal-to-noise ratio (14 dB) and multi-touch functionality (up to four simultaneous touches). These results illustrate a potential pathway toward the integration of LPE-graphene in commercial flexible electronics.     

超声波辅助插层-剥离法制备煤系高岭土微粉的研究

我国煤系高岭土储量丰富,为满足造纸、纺织等行业个性化的需求,通常要对其进行深加工。以山西朔州煤系高岭土为原料,分别在恒温磁力搅拌和超声波作用下探究了煤系高岭土/二甲基亚砜(DMSO)插层复合物制备的最佳条件,在插层复合物的基础上对煤系高岭土进行超声辅助剥离,制备得到高岭土微粉,并利用XRD、SEM、BET、TG-DSC等方法分析表征样品。正交实验结果表明在磁力搅拌条件下DMSO用量、插层时间以及插层温度均对插层率具有一定的影响,引入超声波有利于高岭土插层率的提升。插层复合物经超声辅助剥离后晶粒厚度明显减小,高岭土片层状结构大体上呈现碎片化,仅保留少部分大的片状结构,其边缘碎化,整体上也出现碎裂的趋势。剥离样品的比表面积和孔径均大幅度增加,为硬质高岭土的剥离和超微细粉体的制备提供了新的思路。     

Enhanced photocatalytic activity of graphene oxide/titania nanosheets composites for methylene blue degradation

In the present work, we report enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye in aqueous solution by using ultra-thin anatase TiO₂ nanosheets (NSs) combined with graphene oxide (GO) as a photocatalyst. The two-dimensional ultra-thin anatase TiO₂ NSs are fabricated via chemical exfoliation. By completely delaminating a lepidocrocite-type layered protonic titanate H_xTi_2−x/4□_x/4O₄·H₂O (x=0.7, □: vacancy) into individual layers through ion exchange with tetrabutylammonium (TBA⁺) cations, well-dispersed ultra-thin colloidal Ti_0.91O₂ NSs with a lateral size up to a few micrometers are obtained. Subsequent acid treatment induces colloidal Ti_0.91O₂ to reassemble and precipitate into a gelation form, followed by thermal annealing to convert the Ti_0.91O₂ gelation into anatase TiO₂ nanosheets as photocatalyst for methylene blue degradation. TiO₂ NSs show a high photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 53.2% due to the ultra-thin thickness for facile electron transfering and large surface area for methylene blue absorption. Moreover, photocatalytic effect can be further improved by simply adding GO suspension to achieve colloidal self-assembly of GO and TiO₂ NSs. An optimal GO content of 3 wt% further increases the photocatalytic degradation efficiency to 91.2% due to faster electron–hole seperation and improved surface area provided by GO. This work provides a simple but effective approach by combing graphene oxide with TiO₂ nanosheets synthesized via the exfoliation method for methylene blue degradation.     

A facile co-solvent strategy for preparation of graphene nanoplatelet powder: An industrially viable innovative approach

We report an industrially viable promising approach to produce micrometer-sized multilayer graphene nanoplatelet powder (MGNP) in a scalable quantity via microwave-assisted exfoliation of graphite (MEG) and fragmented into MGNP through liquid-phase exfoliation in the co-solvent mixture by kitchen mixer (KM). KM allows rapid delaminating MEG into MGNP by shear force dominated exfoliation. Majority of MGNPs are with a diameter of few micrometers and thickness is in nanometers. MGNP are crystalline with very limited defects was confirmed by Raman measurements and transmission electron microscopy. This process transforms, more than 86% of graphite flakes into MGNP. This advanced approach opens a new pathway to produce MGNP in bulk quantity as it is feasible, rapid, and cost-effective.     

冷挤压对高合金化7000系铝合金抗腐蚀性能的影响

研究了经固溶-时效和固溶-冷挤压-时效处理的高合金化Al-12.3Zn-3Mg-2.5Cu-0.18Zr-0.07Sr铝合金的微观组织与抗腐蚀性能。结果表明:固溶-时效和固溶-冷挤压-时效状态下高合金化铝合金的晶粒都呈现明显的带状分布,但固溶-冷挤压-时效状态下合金内部亚晶比例明显上升;相比固溶-时效,固溶-冷挤压-时效状态下高合金化铝合金的抗腐蚀性能(剥落腐蚀和晶间腐蚀)有明显的提高,可见冷挤压变形是提高7000系铝合金腐蚀性能的有效手段。     

Gas-assisted exfoliation of boron nitride nanosheets enhancing adsorption performance

A gas exfoliation strategy for controllable preparation of boron nitride (BN) nanosheets with few-layered structure were reported. The green exfoliation process provides the BN nanosheets remarkable increment of adsorption capacities to organic contaminants, which is ascribed to better exposure of active sites originating from the larger surface area and thinner layer. Moreover, the prepared BN also exhibits outstanding recyclability.     

High-yield water-phase exfoliated few-defect graphene for high performance polymer nanocomposites

Application of graphene requires a high-yield, low-cost, scalable production method, but it remains highly challenging. We here report a water-phase technique to produce few-defect graphene nanosheets (FGS) with a high exfoliation yield (92%), based on the chemically expanded graphite with ultrahigh specific surface areas, and demonstrate the application in graphene-polymer nanocomposites. The exfoliated FGS has low degree of oxidation and preserves good mechanical and electrical properties, revealing promising potential for improving comprehensive properties of polymer composites. When 0.5 wt% FGS was incorporated to poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), the 5% weight loss temperature and storage modulus increase by 87°C and 21%, respectively, relative to the neat polymer. With increasing the content of FGS to 4.6 wt%, the glass transition temperature of the composite increases by 25°C. In addition, the composites show a percolation threshold as low as 0.25 vol% and excellent electrical conductivity (50 S/m for 2.7 vol% FGS-PMMA composite).     

A combined experimental and theoretical approach to establish the relationship between shear force and clay platelet delamination in melt-processed polypropylene nanocomposites

In this article, a combined experimental and theoretical approach has been proposed to establish a relationship between the required shear force and the degree of delamination of clay tactoids during the melt-processing of polymer nanocomposites. Polypropylene (PP) was selected as a model polymer, and nanocomposites of PP with organically modified clay were prepared by a master batch dilution technique in a twin-screw extruder. The effect of PP throughput during the dilution of the master batch on the dispersion and orientation of clay platelets were studied in detail. Powder X-ray diffraction, small and wide angle X-ray scattering and high resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to study the structure and morphology of the obtained nanocomposites. The results showed that a lower feeding rate led to the orientation of clay platelets almost in the direction of extrusion. The adhesive force and the interaction energy between the clay platelets were theoretically calculated using the Hamaker approach. The analysis showed that the peeling mechanism is a practical explanation for the delamination of clay platelets during melt extrusion and that the dimensions of the clay platelet tactoids play an important role in the peeling due to the shear stress.