title: Role of peroxide ions in formation of graphene nanosheets by electrochemical exfoliation of graphite.
abstract: This study demonstrates a facile, mild and environmentally-friendly sustainable (soft processing) approach for the efficient electrochemical exfoliation of graphite using a sodium hydroxide/hydrogen peroxide/water (NaOH/H2O2/H2O) system that can produce high-quality, anodic few-layer graphene nanosheets in 95% yield at ambient reaction conditions. The control experiment conducted using NaOH/H2O revealed the crucial role of H2O2 in the exfoliation of graphite. A possible exfoliation mechanism is proposed. The reaction of H2O2 with hydroxyl ions (HO(-)) leads to the formation of highly nucleophilic peroxide ions (O2(2-)), which play a crucial role in the exfoliation of graphite via electrochemical-potential-assisted intercalation and strong expansion of graphite sheets.
authors.affiliation: Promotion Centre for Global Materials Research (PCGMR), Department of Material Science and Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Kodepelly Sanjeeva
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Promotion Centre for Global Materials Research (PCGMR), Department of Material Science and Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jaganathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Senthilnathan
authors.affiliation: Promotion Centre for Global Materials Research (PCGMR), Department of Material Science and Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yung-Fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Promotion Centre for Global Materials Research (PCGMR), Department of Material Science and Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshimura