NU 2017-147
INVENTORS
Jiaxing Huang*
Kevin Chiou
SHORT DESCRIPTION
A binder-free, playdough-like form of graphene oxide that is safer and compact for storage and transportation, which can also be shaped into various structures.
BACKGROUND
Graphene, dubbed “the supermaterial,” has enormous potential for applications in electronics and energy storage. It is a single atom layer thick sheet of carbon that is incredibly strong but lightweight. Graphene oxide (GO), a product of graphite oxidation, is often the starting product to make graphene, due to its high water dispersibility and rich functionality. Prone to combustion and explosion, solid forms of GO are typically diluted into dispersions during storage and transportation, which drastically increases the volume and mass of the material.
ABSTRACT
Northwestern researchers have developed a new method to make graphene oxide (GO) dough without the addition of binding additives which can alter the material’s properties. They discovered colloidal GO sheets form a dough state when their loading in water reaches tens of weight percent. Thus aqueous GO dispersions of tunable concentrations can be readily obtained, greatly improving their processability and making them readily usable. A few different phases are obtained based on their concentration, namely dispersions, pastes, gels and doughs, all of which are readily usable by current and emerging materials processing techniques in industry for numerous applications. At the highest concentrations (>20 wt%), GO doughs can be readily shaped by kneading, pinching, cutting, rolling, molding and connecting to yield desirable shapes and structures, which can be eventually converted into dense graphene-based solids that are electrically conductive, chemically stable, and mechanically hard. On the other hand, water can be added to the dough to transform it back into a high-quality GO dispersion on demand, which drastically reduces the volume and mass of GO products during storage and transportation for manufacturing. This novel discovery facilitates wider accessibility, flexibility and usage of GO, and leads to the fabrication of new bulk graphene-based hard solids.
APPLICATIONS
ADVANTAGES
PUBLICATION
Yeh CN, Huang H, Lim AT, Jhang RH, Chen CH and Huang J (2019) Binder-free Graphene Oxide Doughs. Nature Communications. 10: 422.
IP STATUS
Provisional and PCT applications have been filed.
The GO–water continuum. Photos showing GO–water mixture transitioning from (a) a dilute dispersion, (b) a thick gel, (c) a malleable dough, to (d) a dense solid, as GO loading increases.