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journal article·2026-06-01Open access

Comparison of oxygen and air plasma treatments in the exfoliation of graphene

Christina Issa, Benjamin E. Marble, Alan Hoang, Salwa Karroum, Michael Geiwitz, Salil Desai, Kenneth S. Burch, Ethan G. Arnault, Andrew Seredinski

AIP Advances· Volume 16· Issue 6
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Source abstract

Abstract

Oxygen plasma pretreatment of SiO2 substrates is commonly employed in graphene exfoliation. The plasma’s thorough cleaning of adsorbates from the substrate improves the surface interaction between the graphitic flakes and the substrate. However, oxygen plasma systems are seldom portable and can be large and costly. We compare few-layer graphene exfoliation yields from two oxygen plasma pretreatment recipes to low-pressure air plasma pretreatment, portable corona system pretreatment, and a control. We test each condition with both Kish graphite and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. We find some evidence that these alternatives generally perform worse than the traditional oxygen plasma, supporting their absence from current graphene exfoliation procedures. There are indications of significant differences between the impact of these pretreatments for the different types of bulk graphite.
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Research context

Nanomaterials

OpenAlex topics: Graphene research and applications · Graphite, nuclear technology, radiation studies · Fiber-reinforced polymer composites

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Douglas D. Schumann School of Engineering, Wentworth Institute of Technology 1 , Boston, Massachusetts 02115,

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University 2 , Boston, Massachusetts 02215,

Department of Physics, Boston College 3 , Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467,

Biological Engineering Program, Douglas D. Schumann School of Engineering, Wentworth Institute of Technology 4 , Boston, Massachusetts 02115,

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse University 5 , Syracuse, New York 13244,

Institute for Quantum and Information Sciences, Syracuse University 6 , Syracuse, New York 13244,

School of Sciences and Humanities, Wentworth Institute of Technology 7 , Boston, Massachusetts 02115,

Funding

National Science Foundation · Wentworth Institute of Technology

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