TAGS: Polymer Reinforcement
First Graphene announced the publication of a scientific paper written by researchers at the University of Adelaide, which describes a “green” process to improve the compatibility of First Graphene’s PureGRAPH® materials in a range of systems.
The paper, titled “Highly Water Dispersible Functionalized Graphene by Thermal Thiol-ene Click Chemistry”, was written by a team of researchers led by Professor Dusan Losic, leader of the Nano Research Group at The University of Adelaide and Director of ARC Graphene Research Hub.
Chemically Bonding Molecules to Graphene
The researchers successfully “functionalized” PureGRAPH® graphene supplied by First Graphene. The functionalization process involves chemically bonding molecules to graphene platelets. One end of the molecule will bond to the graphene surface and the other free end interacts with the medium that the graphene is added into.
This improves the level of dispersion and interaction of the graphene platelets with the medium, further enhancing its properties and improving its dispersion in other composite systems such as polymers and rubbers. PureGRAPH® has a broad range of applications which can be further expanded by adding additional finishing steps, generally referred to a functionalizing.
As part of the ARC Graphene Research Hub Program, of which First Graphene is a founding partner, Professor Losic’s team has also confirmed the pristine nature of PureGRAPH®. The team used advanced analytical techniques to show that commercially available PureGRAPH® platelets have a typical average thickness of six layers, confirming the product is a Few Layer Graphene (FLG).
First Graphene is now actively working with the research team at the University of Adelaide to scale up the process and enable First Graphene to extend applications for its product range, increasing usability options for end customers and ultimately driving greater demand for PureGRAPH®.
Background to Functionalization of Graphene
In the context of this announcement, the work by the University of Adelaide has confirmed the suitability of PureGRAPH® to its use with its recently designed functionalization methodology. This addresses the hydrophobic characteristic of pristine graphene, thereby potentially opening additional market opportunities to First Graphene.
Michael Bell, chief executive officer of First Graphene said: “
We are excited by the outcome of the research carried out by the team at the University of Adelaide. This has the potential for us to further extend our product offering to our customers, and therefore accelerate the uptake and demand for PureGRAPH®. We look forward to working with Professor Losic’s team to further this work and potentially develop a range of new products.”
Professor Dusan Losic, leader of the nano research group at the University of Adelaide, said: “
We are very pleased to continue working with First Graphene’s pristine graphene platelets. The results of our work are very encouraging, significantly enhancing their potential to be applied to a wide range of end applications. We found the PureGRAPH® materials to be ideally suited to this chemistry with large size, low-defects, few-layer, pristine platelets that have some oxygen-edge functionality on receipt.”
Source: First Graphene