Granules of graphene oxide by spray drying

Abstract

Granules of graphene oxide may be produced from a dispersion of nanoscale graphene oxide sheets by a spray drying method. Such granules have a three-dimensional corrugated morphology. The complexity of the corrugations, and the size distribution of the granules can be varied through selection of the spray-drying equipment used, and variation of the composition of the dispersion and the spray-drying parameters. Structural modifiers may be included in the graphene oxide dispersion to control the ultimate morphology of the granules. The granules of graphene oxide may be thermally reduced at a moderate temperature of 220° C. to increase the granules' electrical conductivity. The reduced granules may be used to fabricate electrodes for supercapacitors. The power and energy density of such an electrode material is comparable to those of conventional/commercial activated carbon-based electrodes.

1 . An artifact, comprising granules, each granule including a plurality of graphene oxide nanosheets having lateral dimensions in the range of about 100 nm to about 1000 nm, said granules having corrugated morphologies. 
     
     
         2 . A method of preparing granules of graphene oxide having corrugated morphologies, said method comprising the steps of:
 dispersing graphite oxide and a structural modifier in an aqueous medium, thereby forming an aqueous dispersion;   atomizing the dispersion, thereby forming a spray of droplets of the dispersion; and   drying the droplets of the dispersion, thereby forming granules including a plurality of graphene oxide nanosheets.