FORMATION MECHANISMS OF GRAPHITE INTERCALATION COMPOUNDS

After dividing the formation of the graphite intercalation compounds into four periods: melting, activating, scattering and bond forming stages, actors affecting the intercalation reaction in each period were analysed. Based on synthesis experiment of the CuCl 2, NiCl 2 GICs, changes of the appearance and volume of the graphite after and before expanding and intercalation were analysed. It is suggested that there are three mechanism: the chloride scattering mechanism, the ionic bond dragging mechanism between the cupric chloride and the graphite plane, and the graphite plane recovering mechanism. Beside of main mechanism of the scattering, the ionic dragging mechanism, which includes the molecular force between the graphite layers and ionic bonding dragging mechanism, affects the intercalating reaction in the expanded graphite.