Microscopic origin of graphene nanosheets derived from coal-tar pitch by treating Al4C3 as the intermediate
- 11 May 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
- Vol. 23 (21), 12449-12455
- https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cp01575c
Abstract
The development of environmental friendly, simply processed and low cost synthesis methods for graphene nanosheets (GNs) has attracted global interest. In this work, a simple and efficient method to synthesize GNs deriving from coal-tar pitch has been proposed from both experimental and theoretical point of views. The XRD, TEM and Raman results demonstrate that precursor Al4C3 could provide a growth environment for the final product of GNs. Innovatively, we have unraveled the microscopic origin for the decomposition of Al4C3 based on density functional theory calculations. It is highlighted that the surface energies and elastic constants analysis indicate the fact that the chemical etching process in Al4C3 can be happened, which is similar to the exfoliation of well-known transition metal carbides MXenes. Furthermore, different bond breaking mechanisms have been found in Al4C3 at applied tensile and shear strains from the electron localization functions and stress-strain results. Our study not only offers an efficient method to synthesize GNs, but also unravel the microscopic mechanism of fabrication by theoretical calculations.Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (21973012, 51872049)
- National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFB0701701)
- Fuzhou University (2019-JJFDKY-01)
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