Sharali Malik: Characterization of Few-layer Graphene (FLG) starting with Pristine Graphite via Wet Chemical Functionalization.

Sharali Malik, Colin Liebscher, George Kostakis, Di Wang, Stefanie Portratz, Silviu Balaban, Carmen Balaban Institute of Nanotechnology (INT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.  Aix-Marseille Université, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires de Marseille, 13397 Marseille cedex 20, France. Few-layer graphene (less than 10 stacked layers) possess outstanding electronic and mechanical properties. However, graphene has a gapless band-structure and is not solution processable. Chemical functionalization has been used to address these problems by covalent modification of graphene’s π-electron system in association with wet chemical exfoliation. Here we show new synthetic methods which also achieves this goal. Starting with pristine graphite we have obtained few-layer functionalized graphene. These materials were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and TEM. In this poster, we show that, we can apply analagous methods to those we reported to functionalize carbon nanotubes for the preparation of large quantities of graphene sheets. The research picture shows a detail HRTEM view of a graphene and FLG flake. Sharali Malik is a Chartered Chemist with many years practical experience as a scientist in academia as well as in industry. This includes three years’ experience of battery R&D with Varta Ltd,  three years’ experience of computer modeling of long-range transmission of air pollutants in Europe (EMEP/MSC-W), three years’ experience of advising on, implementing and enforcing Health and Safety at Work  as a UK Government Inspector, and fourteen years’ experience of Physical Chemistry research in his current position at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) working on the Synthesis and Characterization of Nano-Carbon Materials.