A novel ‘bottom-up’ synthesis of few- and multi-layer graphene platelets with partial oxidation via cavitation

The transient cavitation of diaromatic components such as 1-methylnaphthalene has been used to produce graphene platelets in a ‘bottom-up’ synthesis via the high temperature (>5000 K) conditions that are generated inside collapsing bubbles. Acoustic cavitation produced yields of 5.7 × 10 −11 kgJ −1 at a production rate of 2.2 × 10 −9 kgs −1 . This can be improved by generating cavitation hydrodynamically, thus making commercial scale production viable. Hydrodynamic cavitation produced platelets with larger lateral dimensions (≥2 µm) than those formed by acoustic cavitation (10–200 nm). The partially oxidised nature of the platelets enables their covalent chemical functionalisation, which was achieved by combining suitable molecules in the reaction medium to affect a one-pot formation and functionalisation of graphene.