Crumpled particles, methods of synthesizing same and applications using same

Abstract

In one aspect of the present invention, a method of for synthesizing compression- and aggregation-resistant particles includes forming a graphene dispersion solution with micron-sized graphene-based material sheets, nebulizing the graphene dispersion solution to form aerosol droplets, passing the aerosol droplets through a horizontal tube furnace pre-heated at a predetermined temperature by a carrier gas, and drying the aerosol droplets to concentrate and compress the micron-sized graphene-based material sheets into crumpled particles of sub-micron scale.

1 - 44 . (canceled) 
     
     
         45 . Nanostructured particles comprising sheets of graphene, graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, or a combination thereof, the nanostructured particles having a fractal-dimensional crumpled structure including ridges and vertices. 
     
     
         46 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein the nanostructured particles have a surface area of at least 255 m 2 /g, after thermal shocking, pelletizing, and compression at 55 MPa. 
     
     
         47 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein the nanostructured particles have a surface area of at least 410 m 2 /g, after solution processing and filtering. 
     
     
         48 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein the nanostructured particles are spherical and the ridges and vertices are pointed. 
     
     
         49 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein the sheets exhibit π-π stacking at the ridges. 
     
     
         50 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein the nanostructured particles, when subjected to electron diffraction, yield graphene (100) diffraction peaks. 
     
     
         51 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein the nanostructured particles, when subjected to electron diffraction contour mapping, display tightly packed graphene domains. 
     
     
         52 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein the ridges have thicknesses of around tens of nanometers. 
     
     
         53 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein each of the nanostructured particles is formed in a respective aerosol droplet by isotropic compression. 
     
     
         54 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein each nanostructured particle is between 0.1 nm and 1000 nm in each spatial dimension. 
     
     
         55 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein at least one of the nanostructured particles has a fractal-dimension of at least 1000 nm. 
     
     
         56 . The nanostructured particles of  claim 45 , wherein the nanostructured particles have a surface area of at least 82 m 2 /g, after compression at 2 GPa. 
     
     
         57 . An article comprising the nanostructured particles of  claim 45 . 
     
     
         58 . The article of  claim 57 , wherein the article is a microbial fuel cell (MFC), a battery, a capacitor, a catalysis, or a polymer composite. 
     
     
         59 . The article of  claim 56 , wherein the article is an anode. 
     
     
         60 . A microbial fuel cell (MFC), the MFC comprising:
 an anode chamber;   an anode disposed in the anode chamber and comprising the nanostructured particles of  claim 45 ;   a cathode chamber;   a cathode disposed in the cathode chamber;   a cation exchange membrane disposed between the anode chamber and the cathode chamber; and   electricigenic microbes disposed on the anode to increase a power density of the microbial fuel cell.