Preparation and characterization of graphene and Ni-decorated graphene using flower petals as the precursor material

A simple method is reported for preparing graphene and nickel-decorated graphene from the petals of lotus and hibiscus flowers by heating the original petals and petals soaked in a nickel(II) chloride solution ranging 800–1600 °C under a flowing argon atmosphere for 0.5 h. The products have been characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Graphene prepared at high temperature (>1200 °C) is purer than that obtained at a lower temperature (800 °C). The presence of nickel has been found to have improved the quality of the graphene and electron density near the Fermi energy level.