HClO4–graphite intercalation compound and its thermally exfoliated graphite

Abstract The aims of this work are to synthesize the HClO 4 –graphite intercalation compound (GIC) by chemical method and analyze the effects of processing parameters on the exfoliated volume (EV) of HClO 4 –GIC and in the meantime, characterize the structural characteristics of HClO 4 –GIC and its exfoliated graphite by using X-ray diffraction. The experimental results show that the optimum condition for preparing the HClO 4 –GIC with the maximum EV of 540 cm 3 /g is that the intercalating reaction temperature, time, the thermally exfoliating temperature and the ratio between natural flake graphite, HClO 4 and HNO 3 are 373 K, 15 min, 1173 K and 1/4/0.15, respectively. The HClO 4 –GIC synthesized through the optimum processing condition has EV of 360 cm 3 /g at 473 K and the natural flake graphite also can be intercalated by HClO 4 at low temperature 258 K in the system.