High-Yield Production of Selected 2D Materials by Understanding Their Sonication-Assisted Liquid-Phase Exfoliation
Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Chemical and Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Stremayrgasse 9, 8010 Graz, Austria
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Academic Editors: Gwan-Hyoung Lee, Alberto Bianco and Saulius Kaciulis
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(12), 3253; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123253
Received: 19 October 2021
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Revised: 4 November 2021
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Accepted: 26 November 2021
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Published: 30 November 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Graphene and Related 2D Materials)
Liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) is a widely used and promising method for the production of 2D nanomaterials because it can be scaled up relatively easily. Nevertheless, the yields achieved by this process are still low, ranging between 2% and 5%, which makes the large-scale production of these materials difficult. In this report, we investigate the cause of these low yields by examining the sonication-assisted LPE of graphene, boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs), and molybdenum disulfide nanosheets (MoS2 NS). Our results show that the low yields are caused by an equilibrium that is formed between the exfoliated nanosheets and the flocculated ones during the sonication process. This study provides an understanding of this behaviour, which prevents further exfoliation of nanosheets. By avoiding this equilibrium, we were able to increase the total yields of graphene, BNNSs, and MoS2 NS up to 14%, 44%, and 29%, respectively. Here, we demonstrate a modified LPE process that leads to the high-yield production of 2D nanomaterials.
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Keywords:
2D materials; liquid-phase exfoliation; high-yield production; graphene; boron nitride nanosheets; molybdenum disulfide nanosheets
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MDPI and ACS Style
Goni, F.; Chemelli, A.; Uhlig, F. High-Yield Production of Selected 2D Materials by Understanding Their Sonication-Assisted Liquid-Phase Exfoliation. Nanomaterials 2021, 11, 3253. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123253
AMA Style
Goni F, Chemelli A, Uhlig F. High-Yield Production of Selected 2D Materials by Understanding Their Sonication-Assisted Liquid-Phase Exfoliation. Nanomaterials. 2021; 11(12):3253. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123253
Chicago/Turabian StyleGoni, Freskida, Angela Chemelli, and Frank Uhlig. 2021. "High-Yield Production of Selected 2D Materials by Understanding Their Sonication-Assisted Liquid-Phase Exfoliation" Nanomaterials 11, no. 12: 3253. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123253
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