Production of graphene materials in a cavitating fluid

Abstract

The invention provides a method of producing a graphene material from a starting graphitic material. In an embodiment, the method comprises: (a) dispersing the starting graphitic material in a liquid medium to form a graphite suspension; and (b) introducing the graphite suspension into a hydrodynamic cavitation reactor that generates and collapses cavitation or bubbles in the liquid medium to exfoliate and separate graphene planes from the starting graphitic material for producing the graphene material. The process is fast (minutes as opposed to hours or days of conventional processes), environmentally benign, and highly scalable. The reactor can concurrently perform the functions of graphene production, chemical functionalization, dispersion, and mixing with a polymer to make a composite.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.