Process for the facile electrosynthesis of graphene from CO2

A method for producing graphene having 1 to 5 layers comprising:

• (a) heating a carbonate electrolyte to obtain a molten carbonate electrolyte;
• and
• (b) disposing the molten carbonate electrolyte between an electrolysis anode and an electrolysis cathode in a cell;
• (c) applying an electrical current to the electrolysis cathode and the electrolysis anode in the cell to electrolyze the molten carbonate electrolyte and generate carbon nanoplatelets on the electrolysis cathode without the formation of transition metal nucleation sites on the cathode;
• and
• (d) electrochemically exfoliating the carbon nanoplatelets from a second anode in an exfoliation electrolyte to produce graphene having 1 to 5 layers,
• wherein
• (i) the molten carbonate electrolyte in step (c) comprises a metal carbonate, and
• (ii) step (d) comprises performing exfoliation where the electrolysis cathode from step (c) having the carbon nanoplatelets is used as the second anode to produce graphene, and the metal carbonate from step (c) present on the second anode is dissolved in the exfoliation electrolyte.