Apparatus and method for bulk production of atomically thin 2-dimensional materials including graphene

An apparatus for the production of Graphene and similar atomic scale laminar materials by the delamination of a bulk laminar material;

• the apparatus comprising:
• a main pump (112) suitable for pumping a fluid, the fluid being a suspension of solid particles of the bulk laminar material, at a pressure of greater than 1MPa, towards and in fluid communication with;
• core components (10), the core components comprising:
• a fluid conduit (12) having a principal axis suitable for conveying said fluid, wherein the fluid conduit is arranged to direct fluid at said pressure from that conduit against;
• an impact head (16) having an impact face perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to said principal axis;
• the impact head and the conduit being arranged so that an annular gap (20) of between 500 μm and 1 μm results between an end of the conduit proximate to the impact head and the impact head wherein the gap forms a continuous region surrounding the end of the conduit and being substantially coplanar with the impact head;
• and
• an impact head surround (26) which extends the region in which the fluid is constrained before exiting the core components, wherein, the impact head is cooled, the apparatus thereby comprising a cooled impact head.