Placing graphite at a high-energy oil/water interface results in the spontaneous, thermodynamically driven exfoliation as the graphene sheets spread at the interface. This spreading lowers the free energy of the system as the two-dimensional graphene sheets act as surfactants. As such, the graphene sheets stabilize emulsions, and by polymerizing the continuous oil phase or monomers in the dispersed aqueous phase, electrically conductive porous composites or graphene coated spheres are synthesized. This approach uses natural flake graphite, not graphite oxide or reduced graphene oxide, and is thus inexpensive and scalable. The mechanism of exfoliation and applications such as synthesizing porous electrodes and hollow graphene spheres will be discussed. Shown in the image is a computational representation of graphene stabilized water droplets in a continuous oil phase.

3-Dimensional templates from self-assembled 2-dimensional graphene

2019 Spring National Meeting

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