High-yield production of 2D crystals by wet-jet milling

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Antonio Esau Del Rio Castillo, Pellegrini, Vittorio, Ansaldo, Alberto, Ricciardella, Filiberto, Sun, Haiyan, Marasco, Luigi, Buha, Joka, Dang, Zhiya, Gagliani, Luca, Lago, Emanuele, Curreli, Nicola, Gentiluomo, Silvia, Palazon, Francisco, Toth, Peter, Mantero, Elisa, Crugliano, Manuel, Gamucci, Andrea, Tomadin, Andrea, Polini, Marco, Bonaccorso, Francesco
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 27.04.2018
• Subjects: Boron nitride; Conductors; Crystal defects; Flakes (defects); Graphene; Lithium; Lithium-ion batteries; Physics - Materials Science; Polymer matrix composites; Rechargeable batteries; Transition metal compounds; Two dimensional jets; Two dimensional materials
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1804.10688

Efficient and scalable production of two-dimensional (2D) materials is required to overcome technological hurdles towards the creation of a 2D-materials-based industry. Here, we present a novel approach developed for the exfoliation of layered crystals, i.e., graphite, hexagonal boron nitride and transition metal dichalcogenides. The process is based on high-pressure wet-jet-milling (WJM), resulting in 2 L/hr production of 10 g/L of single- and few-layer 2D crystal flakes in dispersion making the scaling-up more affordable. The WJM process enables the production of defect-free and high-quality 2D-crystal dispersions on a large scale, opening the way for the full exploitation in different commercial applications, e.g., anodes active material in lithium ion batteries, reinforcement in polymer-graphene composites, and transparent conductors as we demonstrate in this report.