A team at CSIC's Institute of Carbon Science and Technology (INCAR) has developed a method to obtain graphene from coke. The method avoids the graphitisation phase, uses the chemical route and low temperatures. It is a sustainable and effective process that uses a by-product of the petrochemical industry.
Raw coque from petroleum. Image: Roman Maurer/Wikicommons
One step in the process of obtaining graphene from a precursor material involves graphitisation, where heat treatment encourages the material to arrange into a crystalline form. This results in a material organized in a structured pattern of stacked parallel planes, from which the very thin graphene sheets are subsequently exfoliated. However, a disadvantage of this graphitisation step is the exceptionally high temperature required, typically ranging between 2700 and 3000 degrees Celsius.
Now, a research by Patricia Álvarez and Marcos Granda, scientists of the CSIC's Institute of Carbon Science and Technology (Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono, INCAR), has developed a method to obtain graphene from green coke, a material that can be processed at lower temperatures. It is not the first methodology based that uses coke as a precursor but, and this is the novelty, this method starts from raw coke (also called ‘green coke’) and uses a chemical treatment that avoids the graphitisation stage and the high energy cost it entails, as well as the associated risks.
Coke is a by-product of the petrochemical and carbochemical industry that can be used as an alternative to graphite to produce graphene. Green coke is a coke obtained at low temperatures, which consequently have a lower crystalline order. It is a material, the researchers explain, whose sheets are not as perfect as those of graphite, but they have more than enough quality for many applications or emerging technologies, and have very interesting advantages in terms of energy savings and safety.
The process developed is more sustainable and safer than when graphite is used, as it allows working temperatures of 800ºC to 1000ºC maximum. It is a scalable method using reagents commons in industry. Laboratory tests have shown that this method, which has already been patented, is a safe and low-cost alternative to graphite.
The researchers have initiated talks with companies in the petrochemical and carbochemical sector interested in licensing the patent for commercial exploitation.
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