Graphene reinforced materials and related methods of manufacture
Graphene reinforced materials and related methods of manufacture are provided. The graphene reinforced materials include graphene sheet or scroll, graphene-polymer sheet or scroll, and graphene-carbon sheet or scroll, each having material properties that are attractive across a broad range of applications and industries. The graphene reinforced materials generally include monolayer or multilayer graphene that is synthesized by annealing a catalyst substrate within a CVD chamber, introducing a hydrocarbon gas as a carbon source with the CVD chamber to form a layer of graphene on the catalyst substrate, detaching the catalyst substrate from the layer of graphene, and rolling the layer of graphene onto itself to form a scroll, optionally with the addition of a polymer layer or carbonized layer on the graphene layer.
1. A method of forming a graphene scroll, the method comprising:
inserting a catalyst substrate into a chemical vapor deposition chamber, the catalyst substrate being a sheet material of freestanding metal foil;
annealing the catalyst substrate in hydrogen gas within the chemical vapor deposition chamber; and
exposing the annealed catalyst substrate to a reaction gas mixture including a hydrocarbon;
synthesizing graphene from the reaction gas mixture following the exposure of the annealed catalyst substrate to the reaction gas mixture;
detaching the annealed catalyst substrate from the synthesized graphene; and
consolidating the synthesized graphene by floating the synthesized graphene on a solution and rolling the synthesized graphene onto itself to form a cylindrical multi-wall graphene scroll having a spiral cross-section, wherein the synthesized graphene is a non-hydrogenated graphene layer at least during consolidation into the multi-wall graphene scroll.
2. The method according to claim 1 further including bonding a polymeric film to the synthesized graphene prior to consolidation into a multi-wall graphene scroll.
3. The method according to claim 2 further including heat treating the polymeric film to carbonize the polymeric film.
4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the hydrocarbon is selected from the group consisting of methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, octane, acetylene, benzene, toluene and combinations thereof.
5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the freestanding metal foil is a copper foil.
6. The method according to claim 1 wherein annealing the catalyst substrate includes gradually heating the catalyst substrate to approximately 1000° C.
7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the reaction gas mixture includes a buffer gas selected from the group consisting of noble gases and nitrogen.
8. A method of synthesizing a graphene article, the method comprising:
passing a metal substrate through a heated chemical vapor deposition chamber at atmospheric pressure, the metal substrate being a sheet material of freestanding metal foil;
introducing hydrocarbon gas as a carbon source to form at least a monolayer of large area graphene including crystal hexagonal grains on the metal substrate;
forming a thermoplastic film on a surface of the graphene opposite the metal substrate;
detaching the metal substrate from the graphene to achieve a composite graphene article; and
consolidating the composite graphene article by floating the composite graphene article on a solution and rolling the composite graphene article into a cylindrical multi-wall graphene scroll having a spiral cross-section, wherein the graphene of the composite graphene article is a non-hydrogenated graphene layer at least during consolidation into the multi-wall graphene scroll.
9. The method according to claim 8 further including heat treating the polymeric film to carbonize the polymeric film.
10. The method according to claim 8 wherein the thermoplastic film includes poly(methyl methacrylate).
11. The method according to claim 8 wherein the thermoplastic film is spin coated, spin coated or deep coated onto a surface of the graphene opposite the metal substrate.
12. The method according to claim 8 further including continuously extracting the metal substrate from the chemical vapor deposition chamber.