An integrated method for massive production of graphene from bituminous coal via ultrasonication-assisted emulsion formation

Up to date, various methods of graphene production have been rapidly developed for a range of applications. However, large-scale production with low cost is still desired. The chemical exfoliation route is expected to be the best alternative although there are still many aspects that can be further improved, for example, raw materials. Instead of using graphite, bituminous coal is a better candidate to be used as the raw material for synthesizing graphene because it is cheap and abundant. Moreover, the use of coal is only limited to the electricity purpose. In this study, a new chemical exfoliation method followed by thermal reduction was explored to fabricate graphene from bituminous coal. This method involves ultrasonication-assisted emulsion formation for separation to remove the remaining residual coal. As a result, 0.9 wt% of bituminous coal could be exfoliated with graphene. Based on several characterization techniques, coal-derived graphene produced from this integrated method has competitive qualities compared to graphite-derived graphene.