High yield production and purification of few layer graphene by gum arabic assisted physical sonication

Exploiting the emulsification properties of low cost, environmentally safe Gum Arabic we demonstrate a high yield process to produce a few layer graphene with a low defect ratio, maintaining the pristine graphite structure. In addition, we demonstrate the need for and efficacy of an acid hydrolysis treatment to remove the polymer residues to produce 100% pure graphene. The scalable process gives yield of up to 5 wt% graphene based on 10 g starting graphite. The graphene product is compared with reduced graphene oxide produced through Hummer's method using UV-visible spectroscopy, SEM, TEM, and Raman spectroscopy. The two graphene materials show significant difference in these characterizations. Further, the film fabricated from this graphene exhibits 20 times higher electrical conductivity than that of the reduced graphene oxide. Sonication processing of graphite with environmentally approved biopolymers such as Gum Arabic opens up a scalable avenue for production of cheap graphene.