In 2024, Professor James M. Tour's research team published a groundbreaking paper in the journal Nature It is entitled “ Rapid and Large-Scale Production of Graphene through Flash Joule Heating”. The study describes an innovative flash joule heat technology that converts multiple carbon sources, including waste, into high-quality graphene in a very short time. This breakthrough approach not only simplifies the production process of graphene, but also significantly reduces costs while reducing environmental impact. Graphene prepared by this method has extremely low defect concentrations and excellent physical properties, paving the way for a wide range of applications for graphene in energy storage, composites and environmental applications. This result of Professor Tour not only provides a new and efficient method for the preparation of graphene, but also provides an innovative solution for the development of sustainable materials.

Introduction: Flash Joule Heat technology（Flash Joule Heating, FJH）is an innovative method for preparing graphene. This technology is able to rapidly heat various carbon sources (such as coal, petroleum coke, biochar, carbon black, waste food, rubber tires and mixed plastic waste) to more than 3000K in less than a second, thereby directly synthesizing gram-scale graphene. This method is not only fast synthesis speed, high yield, and without the use of furnace, solvent or reaction gas, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, electric energy cost of only 7.2 kilojoules per gram, purity of more than 99%, very low defects, has excellent physical properties, can be used to strengthen a variety of composite materials.

▲Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the layout of the flash joule heat plant.

The structure of graphitized mesoporous carbon was regulated and optimized by the parameters of Joule thermal reaction system. As a potassium ion battery, the material has excellent energy storage properties. Compared with the planar layered graphite anode, the cage-like carbon has enhanced tension and strain capacity, and forms a three-dimensional pore structure conducive to rapid ion transport, so it shows excellent cyclic stability and rate performance.

▲Figure 2 Preparation process by flash Joule heat

Doping of graphene

▲Figure 3 By adjusting the thickness of polyaniline (PANI) and the discharge voltage during joule heating, the content of different forms of nitrogen can be changed,electrochemical properties of the material can be controlled.

▲Figure 4 The copper particle coated carbon layer is transformed into graphene by flash joule heating (FJH) technology, and the Cu/Gr@Gr material with excellent electrical conductivity and oxidation resistance is prepared.

Remediation of graphene materials

The rapid preparation process of LIG results in the development of inherent amorphous properties, which affect its electrical conductivity and mechanical properties.
By flash Joule heat technology, the crystallization rate of graphene is improved, the conductivity is increased and the structural defects are reduced. In addition, the flash Joule heat technique can effectively regulate the structure defects and oxygen-containing functional groups of the asphalt-base ink, so as to adjust the surface free radical concentration of the asphalt-base ink.

▲Figure 5 Laser induced graphene

▲Figure 6 FJH treated graphene showed higher crystallization rate

Conclusion

This technology improves production efficiency, also significantly reduces costs, due to its environmentally friendly properties, reduces environmental impact. Graphene prepared by FJH technology has a unique turbine layer structure, showing excellent physical properties, provides a broad prospect for energy storage, composite materials, electronic devices and other applications. In addition, the scalability of the technology paves the way for the industrial mass production of graphene, heralding a new era for graphene materials and providing innovative solutions for the development of sustainable materials.

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