New laser technology turns wood into graphene

Scientists at Rice University have developed a new laser-induced grapheme (LIG) technology that uses ordinary wood as a raw material. This technology uses light from an industrial laser with specific parameters. The process is carried out at room temperature and inside a chamber with a special protective atmosphere. The lack of oxygen prevents the wood from burning, and the special process parameters lead to the formation of a kind of graphene “foam” on the wood surface.

The first process for laser production of graphene was developed by scientists at Rice University in 2014. It used polyimide, one of the types of inexpensive plastic, as a raw material for producing graphene. After that, scientists began experimenting with different types of wood and opted for pine wood, rich in lignin cellulose. Changing the laser power also affects the quality of the resulting graphene. Scientists have determined that 70 percent of the power is better than the power required to make graphene from plastic.

Using the P-LIG (Pine-LIG) method, the scientists made prototypes of electrodes from wood, used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. In addition, graphene supercapacitors capable of storing a large amount of energy were made in the same way. To increase the efficiency of their work, layers of compounds of cobalt, phosphorus, nickel and iron were deposited on P-LIG graphene electrodes intended for electrolysis, which also had a positive effect on the duration of their operation. And the graphene electrodes of the supercapacitors were covered with an insulating polyaniline layer.

“The technology has a very wide range of applications,” says Ruquan Ye, a researcher at Rice University. “It could be used in solar harvesting technologies, artificial photosynthesis, and more.”

Source: http://www.dailytechinfo.org