Preparation of Few-Layer Graphene by Pulsed Discharge in Graphite Micro-Flake Suspension

Abstract

Few-layer graphene nanosheets were produced by pulsed discharge in graphite micro-flake suspension at room temperature. In this study, the discharging current and voltage data were recorded for the analysis of the pulsed discharge processes. The as-prepared samples were recovered and characterized by various techniques, such as TEM, SEM, Raman, XRD, XPS, FT-IR, etc. The presence of few-layer graphene (3–9 L) in micrometer scale was confirmed. In addition, it is investigated that the size of recovered graphene nanosheets are influenced by the initial size of utilized graphite micro-flake powder. Based on the process of pulsed discharge and our experimental results, the formation mechanism of few-layer graphene was discussed. The influence of charging voltage on as-prepared samples is also investigated.