Measurement of multicomponent solubility parameters for graphene facilitates solvent discovery.
We have measured the dispersibility of graphene in 40 solvents, with 28 of them previously unreported. We have shown that good solvents for graphene are characterized by a Hildebrand solubility parameter of delta(T) approximately 23 MPa(1/2) and Hansen solubility parameters of delta(D) approximately 18 MPa(1/2), delta(P) approximately 9.3 MPa(1/2), and delta(H) approximately 7.7 MPa(1/2). The dispersibility is smaller for solvents with Hansen parameters further from these values. We have used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis to show that the graphene is well exfoliated in all cases. Even in relatively poor solvents, >63% of observed flakes have <5 layers.
Hernandez
Yenny
Y
School of Physics and Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Lotya
Mustafa
M
Rickard
David
D
Bergin
Shane D
SD
Coleman
Jonathan N
JN