Synthesis of Graphene Nanosheets via Thermal Exfoliation of Pretreated Graphite at Low Temperature

In this work, we synthesized graphene nanosheets via a soft chemistry synthetic route involving pre-exfoliation treatment, strong oxidation, and post thermal exfoliation. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the ordered graphite crystal structure and morphology of graphene nanosheets. N2 adsorption was used to determine the specific surface area of graphene nanosheets. As a result, pre-treatment of the graphite with HNO3/H2SO4 mixture produced the exfoliated graphite nanoplates, and the post thermal exfoliation of the graphite oxide nanosheets at low temperature led to produce a large number graphene nanosheets. The specific surface area of obtained graphene nanosheets was 333 m2/g.