Facile Large Scale Production of Few-Layer Graphene Sheets by Shear Exfoliation in Volatile Solvent

Few layer graphene sheets were synthesized from natural graphite through mechanical shear mixer in 1-butanol as solvent. The liquid phase exfoliation of graphite through the shear mixer generated incising forces for 20 minutes which changed the large amount of graphite's flake into few layer graphene. The removal of solvent from the deposited dispersion was performed immediately by keeping at the room temperature. The deposited graphene thin films were characterized by AFM, HR-TEM, XRD, FT-IR and Raman Spectroscopy. The HR-TEM results showed the formation of few layers and well dispersed graphene. The Raman spectroscopy and XRD characterization confirmed the good quality and non-oxidized state of graphene.