title: Edge-carboxylated graphene nanosheets via ball milling.
abstract: Low-cost, high-yield production of graphene nanosheets (GNs) is essential for practical applications. We have achieved high yield of edge-selectively carboxylated graphite (ECG) by a simple ball milling of pristine graphite in the presence of dry ice. The resultant ECG is highly dispersable in various solvents to self-exfoliate into single- and few-layer (≤ 5 layers) GNs. These stable ECG (or GN) dispersions have been used for solution processing, coupled with thermal decarboxylation, to produce large-area GN films for many potential applications ranging from electronic materials to chemical catalysts. The electrical conductivity of a thermally decarboxylated ECG film was found to be as high as 1214 S/cm, which is superior to its GO counterparts. Ball milling can thus provide simple, but efficient and versatile, and eco-friendly (CO(2)-capturing) approaches to low-cost mass production of high-quality GNs for applications where GOs have been exploited and beyond.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary School of Green Energy/Low-dimensional Carbon Materials Center, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), 100 Banyeon, Ulsan 689-798, South Korea.
authors.forename: In-Yup
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Yeon-Ran
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Gyung-Joo
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Sohn
authors.forename: Hyun-Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Seo-Yoon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Javeed
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.forename: Sun-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Jeong-Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Min-Jung
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wook Chang
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Jong-Beom
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Baek