Umeå University's logo

Graphite oxides (GO) swell in liquid alcohols with significant expansion of c-lattice. However, temperature-dependent swelling of Hummers GO (HGO) has so far been reported only for methanol and ethanol. Here, HGO swelling in liquid 1-alchohols (C1 to C22 according to the number of carbons) is studied as a function of temperature using in situ synchrotron radiation XRD. Swelling transitions never previously observed for HGO in any kind of polar solvents are found, enthalpy of these transition and compositions of HGO-Cx solid solvates near the point of solvent melting reported. Swelling transitions from low temperature to high-temperature phase are found for HGO in C10–C22 alcohols, similarly to earlier reported transitions in Brodie graphite oxide (BGO). The transitions correspond to a strong change of inter-layer distance correlating with the alcohol molecules length and change in molecules orientation from perpendicular to parallel to GO planes (Type II transitions). However, Type I swelling transitions (related to insertion/removal of one layer of alcohol molecules) reported earlier for BGO are not found in HGO. Continuous changes of the d(001) spacing are revealed for HGO immersed in all smaller alcohols in the range C1 (methanol) to C9 (nonanol).

Swelling is the most fundamental property of graphite oxides (GO). Here, a structural study of Brodie graphite oxide (BGO) swelling in a set of long chain 1-alcohols (named C11 to C22 according to the number of carbons) performed using synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction at elevated temperatures is reported. Even the longest of tested alcohols (C22) is found to intercalate BGO with enormous expansion of the interlayer distance from ≈6Å up to ≈63Å, the highest expansion of GO lattice ever reported. Swelling transitions from low temperature α-phase to high temperature β-phase are found for BGO in all alcohols in the C11–C22 set. The transitions correspond to decrease of inter-layer distance correlating with the length of alcohol molecules, and change in their orientation from perpendicular to GO planes to layered parallel to GO (Type II transitions). These transitions are very different compared to BGO swelling transitions (Type I) found in smaller alcohols and related to insertion/de-insertion of additional layer of alcohol parallel to GO. Analysis of general trends in the whole set of 1-alcohols (C1 to C22) shows that the 1-alcohol chain length defines the type of swelling transition with Type I found for alcohols with C<10 and Type II for C>10. 

Neutron reflectivity (NR) was used to study the sorption of Eu(III) by graphene oxide (GO) films exposed to ethanol solution of EuCl₃. Most of the earlier sorption studies have been performed using GO dispersed in solution. In contrast, layered structure of GO films imposes limitations for penetration of ions between individual sheets. The analysis of NR data recorded before and after sorption under vacuum demonstrates an increase of GO film thickness due to sorption by 35–40%. The characterization of chemical state of Eu(III) sorbed by GO films by X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) in high-energy resolution fluorescence detection (HERFD) method at the Eu L₃ edge reveals that it remains the same as in anhydrous EuCl₃. Analysis of all collected data including reference experiments with bulk GO samples allows to conclude that EuCl₃ penetrates into GO interlayers with ethanol solution and remains trapped in interlayers after evaporation of ethanol. Sorption of EuCl₃ results in nearly complete amorphization of film and likely formation of voids, thus making NR models based on specific volume of unit cell not valid for quantitative evaluation of Eu sorption. Limitations of NR method must be taken into account in future studies of sorption by thin films.

Many applications are suggested for Ti-MXene motivating strong interest in studies of Ti₃C₂T_x synthesis by solution-based methods. However, so far only ex situ studies of the synthesis are performed, mostly due to the difficulty of handling HF-based solutions. Here the first time-resolved in situ synchrotron radiation X-ray Diffraction study of MXene synthesis performed using a plastic capillary-size reaction cell directly in HF solution is reported. This study provides the first report on the structure of “pristine MXene” formed by Ti₃AlC₂ etching with LiF+HCl. The term “pristine” refers to the MXene structure found directly in HF solution. By comparing the interlayer distances of pristine MXene (≈13.5 Å), solvent-free Li-intercalated MXene (≈12.2 Å), and Li-free MXene (≈10.7 Å), it can be concluded that the width of “slit pores” formed by terminated MX layers during the Al etching does not exceed ≈3 Å. The width of these slit pores is a key factor for HF etching of Al within the interlayers. This space constraint explains the slow kinetics of MXene formation in HF-based synthesis methods. No intermediate phases are observed, suggesting that the crystalline MXene phase is formed by the simultaneous etching of Al and termination of Ti₃C₂ layers.

Graphite oxide (GO) is a hydrophilic, layered material prepared by oxidation of graphite. In the first part of this thesis, we studied materials produced from GO by intercalation and functionalization. The second part of the thesis was focused on supercapacitor applications of high surface area carbons prepared from GO using chemical activation. 

A detailed study of acetylated GO (AcGO) was performed to verify structure and properties of this material. Reports from 1960’s suggested that AcGO has “pillared” structure. Our analysis showed that the AcGO demonstrates expanded structure due to acetylation but exhibits negligible specific surface area and should not be considered as a pillared material. 

Pillared reduced GO (prGO) was prepared by applying mild annealing to GO material pillared with tetrapod-shaped amine molecules. PrGO showed relatively high surface area due to remaining pillaring molecules in the structure. The prGO is hydrophobic and exhibits 100x improved conductivity compared to precursor. PrGO is one of few true pillared structures reported in literature so far, and the first ever prepared starting from pillared GO.

We also investigated the sorption of common dyes, methylene blue (MB), rose bengal (RB) and crystal violet (CV), by multilayered graphene oxide materials. We found that MB dissolved in ethanol intercalates the GO structure, as evidenced by significant expansion of inter-layer distance, and increase in weight due to sorption. In contrast to MB, GO is not easily intercalated by CV and RB dyes. We believe that the flat MB molecule shape allows easier insertion between GO layers compared to twisted and non-flat CV and RB molecules. Our results suggest that penetration into GO inter-layers depends not only on the size of molecules, but also on the shape.

Temperature dependent study of structures formed by Brodie GO (BGO) in liquid alkyl alcohols was performed for a set starting from undecyl alcohol (no. of C=11) and up to behenyl alcohol (no. of C=22). We found that BGO exhibits strong swelling in all molten alcohols in this set. Heating just above the melting point of alcohol results in expansion of inter-layer distance of GO due to intercalation of two layers of alcohol molecules in orientation perpendicular to graphene oxide planes (α-phase). Further heating of α-phase results in incongruent melting and formation of new phase with significantly smaller inter-layer distance and amount of intercalated alcohol (β-phase). The transition from α-to β-phase is distinctly different compared to swelling transitions previously observed for BGO in smaller alcohols (no. of C<10). A more detailed study of the BGO-C16 system revealed that β-phase has structure with alcohol molecules forming layers mostly in parallel to graphene oxide orientation.

In the second part of this thesis we studied activated reduced GO (a-rGO) as electrode material in supercapacitors. A-rGO is a high surface material (~3000 m²g^-1) obtained by KOH activation of rGO. We developed formulations for stable aqueous dispersions of a-rGO optimized for preparation of electrodes by semi-industrial spray-gun deposition. The electrodes prepared by spray deposition showed energy storage parameters only slightly lower compared to lab scale blade-deposited electrodes. Spray-gun deposition might provide significant advantage for industry over conventional methods to prepare electrodes from a-rGO. 

We also applied KOH activation procedure, optimized for producing high surface area a-rGO, to biochar prepared from pine cones. Using this cost free “waste” picked up in Umeå region forest we produced high quality activated carbon very similar to a-rGO in terms of structure, pore size and surface area. Overall, the energy storage parameters of electrodes prepared using the activated carbon from pine cones were on the same level as a-rGO electrodes, which are produced by a lot more complex and expensive chemical treatments.

Intercalation of very long molecules into the structure of multi-layered graphene oxide (GO) was studied using example of 1-hexadecanol (C16), an alcohol molecule with 16 carbon atoms. Brodie graphite oxide (BGO) immersed in excess of liquid C16 just above the melting point shows expansion of c-unit cell parameter from ∼6 Å to ∼48.76 Å forming a structure with two densely packed layers of C16 molecules in a perpendicular orientation relative to the GO planes (α-phase). Heating of the BGO-C16 α-phase in excess of C16 melt results in reversible phase transition into β-phase at 336–342K. The β-phase shows much smaller unit cell parameter of 29.83 Å (363K). Analysis of data obtained using vacuum-driven evaporation of C16 from the β-phase provides evidence for structure of β-phase consisting of five layers of C16 molecules in parallel to GO plane orientation. Therefore, the transition from α-to β-phase corresponds to change in orientation C16 molecules from perpendicular to parallel relative to GO planes and decrease in the amount of intercalated solvent. Cooling of the β-phase in absence of C16 melt is found to result in the formation of γ-phase with inter-layer distance of ∼26.5 Å corresponding to one layer of C16 molecules intercalated perpendicularly relative to the GO planes. Structures with one and two layers of C16 molecules parallel to GO planes were identified in samples with rather small initial loading of C16. Surprisingly rich variety of structures revealed in the BGO-C16 system provides opportunities to create materials with precisely controlled GO inter-layer distance.

Half of today's global energy consumption is in the form of heating and cooling. Solar collectors are the most promising sustainable alternative to fossil fuels in this sector. The most important component in a solar collector is the receiver, which by use of a selective surface absorbs and converts solar irradiance to thermal energy. Herein, a novel selective surface for low-to mid-temperature solar collectors is developed, studied and presented. The surface is produced by electroplating a cobalt-chromium coating on a stainless steel substrate using an electrolyte based on a deep eutectic solvent. Our method makes use of trivalent instead of traditionally used hexavalent chromium, which significantly reduces health-related issues and makes it more environmentally benign. We obtain a coating of chromium doped cobalt where the surface exhibits an absorptance and emittance of 0.96 and 0.14, respectively, giving it a solar-to-thermal efficiency of 0.95. An observed loss in optical efficiency, is shown to correlate to an oxidation of the metallic cobalt to Co₃O₄ at elevated temperatures. We further show that this oxidation can be mitigated by dip-coating a protective silica top coating, which concurrently improves the optical selectivity of the surface. The present selective surface is efficient, cheap, scalable, and easy to produce sustainably, making it competitive to industry standards. We foresee that our method will have impact on the advancement of improved low-to mid-temperature solar collectors, assisting a faster transition towards a sustainable society.

Here preparation of high surface area activated reduced graphene oxide (arGO) oxidized into a 3D analogue of defect-rich GO (dGO) is reported. Surface oxidation of arGO results in carbon to oxygen ratio C/O = 3.3, similar to the oxidation state of graphene oxide while preserving high BET surface area of about 880 m² g⁻¹. Analysis of surface oxidized arGO shows high abundance of oxygen functional groups which converts hydrophobic precursor into hydrophilic material. High surface area carbons provide the whole surface for oxidation without the need of intercalation and lattice expansion. Therefore, surface oxidation methods are sufficient to convert the materials into 3D architectures with chemical properties similar to graphene oxide. The "3D graphene oxide" shows high sorption capacity for U(VI) removal in an extraordinary broad interval of pH. Notably, the surface oxidized carbon material has a rigid 3D structure with micropores accessible for penetration of radionuclide ions. Therefore, the bulk "3D GO" can be used as a sorbent directly without dispersing, the step required for GO to make its surface area accessible for pollutants.

High surface area carbons are so far the best materials for industrial manufacturing of supercapacitor electrodes. Here we demonstrate that pine cones, an abundant bio-precursor currently considered as a waste in the wood industry, can be used to prepare activated carbons with a BET surface area exceeding 3000 m2 g−1. It is found that the same KOH activation procedure applied to reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and pine cone derived biochars results in carbon materials with a similar surface area, pore size distribution and performance in supercapacitor (SC) electrodes. It can be argued that “activated graphene” and activated carbon are essentially the same kind of material with a porous 3D structure. It is demonstrated that the pine cone derived activated carbon (PC-AC) can be used as a main part of aqueous dispersions stabilized by graphene oxide for spray deposition of electrodes. The PC-AC based electrodes prepared using a semi-industrial spray gun machine and laboratory scale blade deposition of these dispersions were compared to pellet electrodes.

Swelling is a property of hydrophilic layered materials, which enables the penetration of polar solvents into an interlayer space with expansion of the lattice. Here we report an irreversible swelling transition, which occurs in MXenes immersed in excess dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) upon heating at 362-370 K with an increase in the interlayer distance by 4.2 Å. The temperature dependence of MXene Ti₃C₂T_x swelling in several polar solvents was studied using synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction. MXenes immersed in excess DMSO showed a step-like increase in the interlayer distance from 17.73 Å at 280 K to 22.34 Å above ∼362 K. The phase transformation corresponds to a transition from the MXene structure with one intercalated DMSO layer into a two-layer solvate phase. The transformation is irreversible and the expanded phase remains after cooling back to room temperature. A similar phase transformation was observed also for MXene immersed in a 2 : 1 H₂O : DMSO solvent ratio but at a lower temperature. The structure of MXene in the mixed solvent below 328 K was affected by the interstratification of differently hydrated (H₂O)/solvated (DMSO) layers. Above the temperature of the transformation, the water was expelled from MXene interlayers and the formation of a pure two-layer DMSO-MXene phase was found. No changes in the swelling state were observed for MXenes immersed in DMSO or methanol at temperatures below ambient down to 173 K. Notably, MXenes do not swell in 1-alcohols larger than ethanol at ambient temperature. Changing the interlayer distance of MXenes by simple temperature cycling can be useful in membrane applications, e.g. when a larger interlayer distance is required for the penetration of ions and molecules into membranes. Swelling is also very important in electrode materials since it allows penetration of the electrolyte ions into the interlayers of the MXene structure.