TITLE:
Optimization of Micromechanical Cleavage Technique of Natural Graphite by Chemical Treatment
AUTHORS:
Luis Torres, Luis Gomez Armas, Antonio Carlos Seabra
KEYWORDS:
Graphene; Micromechanical Cleavage; Raman Spectroscopy; Chemical Treatment
JOURNAL NAME:
Graphene,
Vol.3 No.1,
January
16,
2014
ABSTRACT: In this work,we report a method to improve the efficiency of the micromechanical cleavage technique to obtain few-layers graphene samples, from natural graphite flakes, which were previously submitted to two chemical treatment times with H2SO4(17 and 25 hours). After the chemical treatment times, Raman spectroscopy reveals a hydrogenation of the few-layer graphene samples, which were obtained from the treated graphite flakes. To analyze the hydrogenation of the samples, the G and 2D bands of the Raman spectra of the treated and un-treated samples were analyzed and compared, as well as the I(2D)/I(G) ratio, revealing a p-doping on the treated samples when compared with the untreated samples. Our studies could be of great importance to obtain larger and greater amount of few-layer graphene samples.