title: The production of concentrated dispersions of few-layer graphene by the direct exfoliation of graphite in organosilanes.
abstract: We report the formation and characterization of graphene dispersions in two organosilanes, 3-glycidoxypropyl trimethoxysilane (GPTMS) and phenyl triethoxysilane (PhTES) as new reactive solvents. The preparation method was mild and easy and does not produce any chemical modification. The dispersions, which exhibit the Tyndall effect, were characterized by TEM and Raman spectroscopy to confirm the presence of few-layer graphene. Concentrations as high as 0.66 and 8.00 mg/ml were found for PhTES and GPTMS, respectively. The latter is one of the highest values reported for a dispersion of graphene obtained by any method. This finding paves the way for the direct synthesis of polymer nanofiller-containing composites consisting of graphene and reactive silanes to be used in sol-gel synthesis, without any need for solvent removal, thus preventing graphene reaggregation to form graphite flakes.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica e Farmacia, Università di Sassari and local INSTM Unit, Via Vienna 2, Sassari, 07100, Italy. kenny@ictp.csic.es.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nuvoli
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Alzari
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanna
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scognamillo
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piccinini
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peponi
authors.forename: Josè Maria
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kenny
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mariani