A hydrothermal reacting approach to prepare few-layer graphene from bulk graphite

Abstract The paper presents a simple, efficient and high-quality method for preparing few-layer graphene during the hydrothermal synthesis of magnesium silicate hydroxide (MSH) using bulk graphite as initial material. This type of graphene was characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results show that the graphene obtained using this method is coated on the outer surface of MSH nanoparticles and stacked by 8–12 single graphene sheets with an approximate interlayer spacing of 0.34 nm. The graphene-MSH interface connects via chemical bonds of C-OH, C O and C H that formed between carbon atoms in graphene and active oxygen atoms and/or hydroxyl groups in MSH. This simple solution-phase approach offers a greater possibility in the large-yield, environmental and lattice-perfect produce of graphene using only bulk graphite as the raw material.