Plasma-triggered reduction-exfoliation of highly porous graphene oxide 3D materials
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | Simple, cheap, and fast mass-production of graphene-derived materials like graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), together with a direct application of GO/rGO materials with extraordinary properties exceeding the state-of-the-art solution, is a crucial to reach its widespread commercial success. We are working on fast, low-cost, scalable, chemical-free fabrication method [1] of rGO-based sheets, 3D rGO aerogel-like “cakes” and composites using an electrical plasma-triggered reduction-exfoliation process of highly porous GO materials and GO-based composites that are fabricated using our custom method. We have found that atmospheric Diffuse Coplanar Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DCSBD) plasma generated in nitrogen is capable to trigger a fast («1 s), self-propagating reduction-exfoliation of GO into rGO [2] associated with a significant improvement (~ 105 fold) of electrical properties of plasma-treated material. Typically, plasma-reduced GO sheets (Fig 1a-b) and 3D aerogel-like cakes (Fig.1c), after rolling press to a thin films of thickness 20-100 µm possess sheet resistance ~ 10 ?.sq-1 and sheet conductivity reaching 2000 S.m-1. Despite of standard thin effective thickness of DCSBD plasma of 0.3 mm, the nitrogen DCSBD plasma trigger the modification process even in whole volume of porous GO samples of thickness of several mm. From the point of view of plasma physics and interaction of studied GO-based porous material with DCSBD plasma, we have observed a strong influence of the electrode geometry of diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge on the properties of plasma triggered reduction-exfoliation process. We will present two applications that we are currently working on: a) free-standing rGO aerogel-like sheet as a supporting electrode for Li-based batteries and b) plasma-reduced rGO layer on PES nonwoven as a potential membrane for water treatment applications. |
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