The effect of different electrolytes on the synthesis of graphene sheets by electrochemical exfoliation

Abstract

The synthesis of high quality and large lateral dimension of graphene flakes has been the main interest of researchers. Synthesis methods including chemical vapor deposition, epitaxial growth and micromechanical cleavage guarantees the desired results, but the cost is high. Electrochemical exfoliation, however, is one of the fast and low-cost alternatives in the synthesis of graphene flakes. In this work, the electrochemical exfoliation of graphite utilized four types of electrolytes. The electrochemical cell was designed using copper foils as the cathode whereas graphite pencil rods as the anode which connected to the DC power supply. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that the exfoliated graphene samples contained very low quantity of oxygen functional groups. On the other hand, scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to examine the morphology in which the surface of exfoliated graphene flakes showed wrinkles structure. In addition, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) has confirmed that the exfoliated graphene samples primarily contain carbon, oxygen, and platinum. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that exfoliated graphene samples showed a significant peak at about 2θ =26 ° corresponded to graphite and a low peak at about 10° corresponded to graphene oxide.