Liquid-phase exfoliation of graphene in organic solvents with addition of naphthalene

Abstract We report a facile method for the production of graphene sheets through liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite in organic solvents with addition of naphthalene. The production yield of graphene is significantly increased with the addition of naphthalene in most solvents tested in this work. Naphthalene serves as a “molecular wedge” to intercalate into the edge of graphite, which plays a key role during sonication and significantly improves the production yield of graphene. The graphene concentration of the dispersion in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone is as high as 0.15 mg/mL (after sonication for 90 min), which allows this method to easily produce films and composites for a range of applications.