Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 17 No 3 (2013): 475 – 480

 

 

 

GRAPHENE COLLOIDAL DISPERSION IN VARIOUS ORGANIC SOLVENTS

 

(Penyerakan Koloid Grafin dalam Pelbagai Pelarut Organik)

 

Ainee Fatimah Ahmad¹, Fatin Humaizah Abd Moin¹, Hur Munawar Kabir Mohd¹, Irman Abdul Rahman¹,

Faizal Mohamed¹, Chia Chin Hua¹, Suria Ramli²,  Shahidan Radiman¹*

 

¹School of Applied Physics,

²School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology,

Faculty of Science and Technology,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.

 

*Corresponding author: shahidan@ukm.my

 

 

Abstract

Graphene is an atom thick carbon-based material that has many intriguing physical and chemicals properties. Since stacks of graphene form graphite, graphene can be produce by chemical exfoliation of graphite in surfactant solution. In this study, the colloidal dispersions of graphene in a variety of organic solvents such as isopropanol, tetrahydrofuran (THF),N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) were prepared. Dispersion by bath sonication provides mechanical disruption that breaks apart the graphite flakes, which is then sterically stabilized in the solvent system. FTIR analysis has confirmed the presence of the C=C groups in the samples. By analyzing bright-field TEM images obtained from each dispersion, we have found that the graphene dispersed in isopropanol and THF are multilayered, wrinkled and overlapping graphene sheets; while samples in NMP and GBL are less thick with predominantly folded graphene sheets. The stronger solvents such as NMP and GBL are more effective than isopropanol and THF in obtaining stable graphene dispersions. This will be useful for self-assembly work by dip-coating or monolayer method in the future.

 

Keywords: graphene, tetrahydrofuran (THF), N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP), gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

 

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