New low-cost graphene production to revolutionise engineering applications

项目简介：石墨烯是一层碳原子，它比钻石更硬，比钢更坚韧，比铝更轻，导电性比铜更好，甚至氦原子都不能通过它。它有大量的潜在用途，但大规模部署它的主要油门是高昂的生产成本。这在很大程度上是由于目前的方法在较长的时间内生产少量的产品。最近，工业合作伙伴BLAST Log Ltd与Garrard Jones Engineering Ltd共同开发了一种使用间歇闪速热解[1]的新工艺，用于从可再生生物质来源大规模自下而上合成石墨烯。这种新的制造过程的快速加热动力学和连续性质的高能量输入提供了一种颠覆性的纳米技术，可以生产出至少比当前市场成本低一个数量级的材料。这个项目的目的是帮助优化这一新的闪速热解生产工艺和石墨烯产品，并确定将这种材料开发成商业产品并销售到当前市场的可行性。一个具有巨大潜力的具体例子正在建设中。全球混凝土年产量超过100亿吨，约占温室气体排放量的10%。因此，混凝土行业面临着减少碳足迹的巨大压力。石墨烯已被证明可以显著提高混凝土的强度和耐久性[2]。这将减少新建筑以及维修和维护期间的材料使用量，可能相当于温室气体排放量的5%。传统的石墨烯生产路线没有竞争力，但这种新的生产路线有可能使石墨烯在混凝土中的使用在经济上可行。因此，学生们的目标是进一步开发这些新型的低成本石墨烯材料，并证明它们作为功能添加剂在大容量应用中的实用性和可行性。将研究的应用途径包括：(I)用作增加强度(从而降低二氧化碳排放)的混凝土添加剂，直接销售给预拌工厂和其他最终用户；(Ii)用作机油添加剂，利用石墨烯产品在合成油中产生稳定的分散，目的是展示燃油效率提高和减少磨损的效果；以及(Iii)用作添加剂，形成耐用、耐磨的聚合物复合材料，例如用于轮胎等汽车应用。为此，该项目将优化支撑闪速热解制造工艺，并探索不同的可持续碳原料，以进一步提高最终石墨烯产品的石墨化质量、纯度、均质性和剥离能力。在时间允许的情况下，该项目还将探索将直接化学功能化方法整合到闪速热解制造过程中。将通过光谱学(拉曼、XPS)、热方法(TGA、TGA-MS)和最先进的纳米级分析技术(TEM、EDX、FIB、EELS)对产品的结构和化学特征进行仔细分析。

Project Description: Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms which is harder than diamond, tougher than steel, lighter than aluminium, conducts electricity better than copper and even helium atoms can't pass through it. It has a vast number of potential uses but the main throttle on large scale deployment of it is the high cost of production. This is largely down to the current methods producing small quantities over extended periods of time. Recently industrial collaborators Blast Log Ltd, together with Garrard Jones Engineering Ltd, have developed a novel process using batch flash pyrolysis [1] for the bottom-up synthesis of graphene from renewable biomass sources at large scale. The high energy inputs at fast heating kinetics and continuous nature of this novel fabrication process provide a disruptive nanotechnology that can produce a material at least an order of magnitude cheaper than the current market cost. The aim of this studentship is to help optimise both this new flash pyrolysis production process and the graphene product and to determine whether it is feasible to develop the material into a commercial product and sell into the current market. A specific example with great potential is in construction. Global concrete production amounts to over 10 billion tonnes per year, and is responsible for ca. 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. The concrete industry is therefore under immense pressure to reduce its carbon footprint. Graphene has been shown to significantly improve concrete strength and durability [2]. This will enable reductions in material use for new construction, and during repair and maintenance, potentially amounting to 5% of greenhouse gas emissions. Conventional graphene production routes are uncompetitive, but this new production route has the potential to make the use of graphene in concrete economically feasible. The studentship therefore aims to develop these novel low-cost graphene materials further and demonstrate their utility and feasibility as functional additives in high-volume applications. Application avenues that will be investigated include: (i) use as a concrete additive to increase strength (and thus lower carbon dioxide emissions), selling it direct to ready mix plants and other end users; (ii) use as a motor oil additive by using the graphene product to create a stable dispersion in synthetic oil with the aim of demonstrating fuel efficiency increases and wear reduction effects and; (iii) use as an additive to form a durable, hard wearing polymer composite material for say automotive applications such as tyres. To this end, the project will optimize the underpinning flash pyrolisation fabrication process and explore different sustainable carbon feedstocks to further boost graphitic quality, purity, homogeneity, and exfoliation capability of the final graphene products. Time-permitting, the project will also explore the integration of direct chemical functionalisation approaches into the flash pyrolysis fabrication process. Products will be carefully analyzed in terms of their structural and chemical characteristics via spectroscopy (Raman, XPS), thermal methods (TGA, TGA-MS) and state-of-the-art nanoscale analytical techniques (TEM, EDX, FIB, EELS).