Introduction: The graphene has received a great attention because of its extraordinary characteristics of high carrier mobility, excellent thermal conductivity, high optical transmittance, and superior mechanical strength. Developing a simple methods with the property of producing large quantities of high-quality graphene have become essential for electronics, optoelectronics, composite materials, and energy-storage applications. Materials and Methods: In this study, the simple one step and efficient method of grinding was used to produce few-layers graphene nanoflakes from graphite. Different microscopic (TEM, SEM, and AFM) and spectroscopics (XRD, XPS, and Raman) charactrization tools were used to test the quality of the resultant graphene nanoflakes. Results: The produced nanoflakes showed no traces of oxidation due to the grinding process. In addition, the applicability of the obtained nanoflakes as potential supercapacitor electrodes was investigated. For that purpose, thin films of the few-layer graphene nanoflakes were developed using spray coating technique. In terms of both transparency and conductivity, the prepared films showed equivalent properties compared to those prepared by more complex methods. The electrochemical properties of the prepared electrodes showed high specific capacitance of 86 F g_1 at 10 A g_1 with excellent stability. The electrodes sustained their original capacity for more than 7000 cycles and started reducing to 72 F g−1 after 10000 cycles. Conclussions: The method provides a simple, efficient, versatile, and eco-friendly approach to low-cost mass production of high-quality graphene few-layers. The electrochemical stability and flexibility of the developed thin films indicated that the films could be used as electrodes in a wide range of electronic applications.
A novel ‘bottom-up’ synthesis of few- and multi-layer graphene platelets with partial oxidation via cavitation