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New method to produce Graphene
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We established a unique method to produce in our static reactors Carbon sp2, also called Graphene. The production happens at room temperature and at normal atmospheric conditions.
The experiments, which are very fast and easy to perform, were repeated many times in several type of reactors.
This is a major breakthrough since graphene is actually only produced in complicated set-up systems using temperature of 700 à 800°C.
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Raman Spectroscopy, performed by an independent laboratory, confirms sp2 of carbon on the copper electrode.
This examined electrode shows several sp2 layers on top of each other. The reason is that we used the tested sample previously for several different loadings and several carbon extractions from several materials. It was just picked randomly from 30 or 40 pieces.
The Raman Spectroscopy shows two main peaks in the graphs, one in the sp2 area and one in the sp3 area.
The sp3 may indicate either that the weight of the upper layers have caused broken connections in the lower layers, or means that the carbon layers on the electrode also contains some sp3, thus diamond-like deposits.
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The disk of the sample has a diameter of 19 mm.
We are able to trait in adapted reactors much larger surfaces of any shape and length, like plates of 10 cm x 10 cm.
Applications could be for large production of nanofabric for new type of wafers for electronic manufacturers. The method used can be applied on a continuous base in industrial production lines. We believe that perfect nanofabrics of 500 microns (millionths of a meter) across is very feasible, and can be reached very soon.
By altering the exposure time in reactors we can attain the targeted number of sp2 layers, and attain the required thickness. This will be fine tuned in future tests with industrial partners.
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The first image shows that there is minor damage on the outer side of the disk. This is caused by contacts with some desk surfaces.
The samples coming out of a reactor don't have such damage.
The blank spaces on the connection between the disk and the wire are caused by the properties of solder material. The oil in solder material doesn't allow deposits of carbon.
The Raman test was not done with the sample shown on the images, but with an identical sample. |
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The basic approach shown in the cola bottle can be easly applied for large industrial production. In example, we can design specific reactors to produce only sp3, thus to manufacture industrial diamond , transparent diamond and glassy carbon for various industrial applications. The presence of pure transparent diamond crystals on special electrodes was confirmed by experts in the Diamond Bourse of Antwerp. A project to produce transparent diamonds in dynamic reactors will be started.
On the other hand it is possible to produce in an easy way boron nitrides, like in mono-layers (a-BN). We can treat also various materials which are covered by insulation means, such as telephone wires.
Already mid 2006 during tests other properties have been observed, such as porous C-structures which can be used for environmental cleaning. This is part of our IP. In April 2007 ESRF claimed the same discovery.
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A similar system can be used for the cleaning up of CO2, NOx and SO2 from automotive, home and industrial exhaust gasses. Adapted versions of these reactor can be used in water treatment systems and extract elements like Cadmium and Chromium. Also Trichloroethylene can be extracted from contaminated water in a simple way by using electro-magnetic fields in the plasma. TCE, is widely found in drinking water, and California has some of the nation's worst contamination. (Article LA Times, July 27, 2006)
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Please keep in mind that we consider the production of graphene as one of the by-products of our plasma technology.
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