I am trying to buy graphite powder for the synthesis of GO but in market I get the graphite powder having around 90-95 % carbon content in graphite. Graphite of purity around 99% are a bit expensive and I didn't get in small quantity. Would the 90-95 % carbon content graphite work for the synthesis of GO ? I am not sure which graphite to buy from the market.
If cost of the material is your only concern, better you can use biomass waste as a carbon source for the synthesis of GO.
Lots of research papers are available for "biomass derived carbon nano materials".
Dear Reema Shrestha,
There are no minimum amount of carbon for GO preparation. However, the carbon amount would be greatly effect the whole process, oxidation degree and Impurity level. The lowest the carbon contents would be, the worst quality of the obtained GO and you would be out of stranded steps` time schedule of improved Hummers method.
I would recommend doing further grinding process and purification of your 90-95 % graphite powder to grow high grad GO successfully.
are there methods for purification for such kind in Internet? If i don't get more pure graphite then i guess i need to work with less pure graphite. Do you have any idea how to purify the graphite obtained from 8B pencil lead? I had worked with it too earlier but it didn't give any color change.
Dear Reema Shrestha,
OK. Here is my recipe.
First, you have to grind the graphite till obtaining a very fine powder.
After that, add 2.8 g of H2O2 30% TO 120 g of H2SO4 98% to 10 g of graphite fine powder and use ultrasonic bath for 1h then stirrer the mixture for 4h at 60 C. Collect the the graphite and anneal it at 230 C for 2h. I suggest repeting the grinding step because of expansion. Repeat acids step if you want high purity and surface area. Finally, use 200 ml of NaOH (1 molar)f to disperse the graphite powder over nigh. After collecting and drying you would have expanded high purity graphite flacks that would be excellent for GO preparation.
It`s worth to mention that, 8B pencil lead would need washing in boiling water for night under reflux and in acetone for another night before starting the Acid step.
Please, don`t forget to acknowledge me because this is not a published work.
Hi again Reema,
You must use graphite, otherwise you will not get GO. Natural graphite is better, because the sheets there are bigger if compared to synthetic graphite (electrodes etc.). It's not so problematic to get, even through EBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=graphite+powder+natural&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=graphite+powder+natural&_sacat=0
By the way, if your purity is 95%, for natural graphite you'll have most likely 5% metal oxide + silicate impurities. A preliminary acid digestion will remove the soluble ones, the others (silicates) are not a problem for the production of GO (we know even laboratory glass is a sort of a silicate ;-)
I am searching in the nearby country but the graphite I found is of 95% pure at most. I am not sure of impurities present over there. I am really starting to panic as I haven't found graphite yet and I need to finish my project in a month.
95% is OK; just make more washings in the end (you'll need centifuge to accelerate the process). Also be careful for silicate presence: discard the fraction that sediments too fast (for 10-20 seconds).
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