Proceedings of the
World Congress on Micro and Nano Manufacturing (WCMNM 2022 )
19–22 September 2022, Lueven, Belgium
doi:10.3850/978-981-18-5180-3_RP67-0024
Effect of Textured Substrate on High-Speed Impact-Induced Graphene Exfoliation: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
ABSTRACT
Recent molecular dynamics (MD) studies have shown that the high-speed jet impact of graphite flakes on a diamond substrate can cause exfoliation to yield few-layer and multi-layer graphene. The method has the potential to be scaled up for mass production as the estimated yield rate was high. This study focused on improving the high-speed impact-induced exfoliation process by introducing nanoscale rectangular groove texture on the diamond substrate. We used molecular dynamics simulations to show that the energy loss due to impact decreases as these grooves improve the exfoliation process by enhancing the exfoliation mechanism. The groove edge acts as a cutting edge to support the exfoliation process, making the layers shear/cleave, and utilizing the impact force to break the interlayer bonds. The minimum impact velocity required for exfoliation was thus reduced, thereby improving the yield per unit power of the process to three times. These results promise an increase in the output at a lower impact velocity which helps the process scale up to mass production of graphene at a lower cost.
Keywords: Few-layer Graphene, Graphene Exfoliation, Molecular Dynamics, Diamond substrate, Mechanical exfoliation.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
ABSTRACT
Recent molecular dynamics (MD) studies have shown that the high-speed jet impact of graphite flakes on a diamond substrate can cause exfoliation to yield few-layer and multi-layer graphene. The method has the potential to be scaled up for mass production as the estimated yield rate was high. This study focused on improving the high-speed impact-induced exfoliation process by introducing nanoscale rectangular groove texture on the diamond substrate. We used molecular dynamics simulations to show that the energy loss due to impact decreases as these grooves improve the exfoliation process by enhancing the exfoliation mechanism. The groove edge acts as a cutting edge to support the exfoliation process, making the layers shear/cleave, and utilizing the impact force to break the interlayer bonds. The minimum impact velocity required for exfoliation was thus reduced, thereby improving the yield per unit power of the process to three times. These results promise an increase in the output at a lower impact velocity which helps the process scale up to mass production of graphene at a lower cost.
Keywords: Few-layer Graphene, Graphene Exfoliation, Molecular Dynamics, Diamond substrate, Mechanical exfoliation.
