Conifer Bark as a Precursor of 2D Graphene Structures: Synthesis and Application.

The bark of coniferous trees was carbonized under the conditions of the high-temperature self-propagation synthesis process. It was shown by IR and Raman spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and electron microscopy that the carbonization product compares with the few-layer graphene, a 2D nanocarbon which a promising candidate for wide-scale application. Evidence was obtained in favor of the potential use of graphene nanoplates as a modifier for vulcanized butadiene-styrene rubbers. It was shown that modification increased such practically important parameters of vulcanized rubbers as tear and multiple tensile resistance by 35 and 237%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]