title: Water Protects Graphitic Surface from Airborne Hydrocarbon Contamination.
abstract: The intrinsic wettability of graphitic materials, such as graphene and graphite, can be readily obscured by airborne hydrocarbon within 5-20 min of ambient air exposure. We report a convenient method to effectively preserve a freshly prepared graphitic surface simply through a water treatment technique. This approach significantly inhibits the hydrocarbon adsorption rate by a factor of ca. 20×, thus maintaining the intrinsic wetting behavior for many hours upon air exposure. Follow-up characterization shows that a nanometer-thick ice-like water forms on the graphitic surface, which remains stabilized at room temperature for at least 2-3 h and thus significantly decreases the adsorption of airborne hydrocarbon on the graphitic surface. This method has potential implications in minimizing hydrocarbon contamination during manufacturing, characterization, processing, and storage of graphene/graphite-based devices. As an example, we show that a water-treated graphite electrode maintains a high level of electrochemical activity in air for up to 1 day.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States.
authors.forename: Zhiting
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, United States.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kozbial
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States.
authors.forename: Nikoloz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nioradze
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parobek
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States.
authors.forename: Ganesh Jagadeesh
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Shenoy
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salim
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States.
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amemiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, United States.|Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, United States.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: cleaning; contamination; cyclic voltammetry; graphene; graphite; spectroscopy; water adsorption