Abstract:In order to progress from the lab to commercial applications it will be necessary to develop industrially scalable methods to produce large quantities of defect-free graphene.Here we show that high-shear mixing of graphite in suitable, stabilizing liquids results in large-scale exfoliation to give dispersions of graphene nanosheets. XPS and Raman spectroscopy show the exfoliated flakes to be unoxidised and free of basal plane defects. We have developed a simple model which shows exfoliation to occur once the local shear rate exceeds 10 4 s -1 . By fully characterizing the scaling behaviour of the graphene production rate, we show that exfoliation can be achieved in liquid volumes from 100s of ml up to 100s of litres and beyond. The graphene produced by this method performs well in applications from composites to conductive coatings. This method can be applied to exfoliate BN, MoS2 and a range of other layered crystals. Main Text:Due to its ultra-thin, 2-dimensional nature and its unprecedented combination of physical properties, graphene has become the most studied of all nano-materials. In the next decade graphene is likely to find commercial applications in many areas from high-frequency electronics to smart coatings.

Here we demonstrate the production of large quantities of gallium sulfide (GaS) nanosheets by liquid exfoliation of layered GaS powder. The exfoliation was achieved by sonication of the powder in suitable solvents. The variation of dispersed concentration with solvent was consistent with classical solution thermodynamics and showed successful solvents to be those with Hildebrand solubility parameters close to 21.5 MPa 1/2 . In this way, nanosheets could be produced at concentrations of up to ~0.2 mg/ml with lateral sizes and thicknesses of 50-1000 nm and 3-80 layers, respectively. The nanosheets appeared to be relatively defect free although oxygen was observed in the vicinity of the edges. Using controlled centrifugation techniques, it was possible to prepare dispersions containing size-selected nanosheets.Spectroscopic measurements showed the optical properties of the dispersions to vary strongly with nanosheet size, allowing the elucidation of spectroscopic metrics for in-situ estimation of nanosheet size and thickness. These techniques allow the production of nanosheets with controlled sizes which will be important for certain applications. To demonstrate this, we prepared films of GaS nanosheets of three different sizes for use as hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts. We found a clear correlation between performance and size showing small nanosheets to be more effective. This is consistent with the catalytically active sites residing on the nanosheet edges.

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E -m a i l : b e a t r i x . m e n d o z a @ g m a i l . c o m"These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract Manganese oxide nanosheets were synthesized using liquid-phase exfoliation that achieved suspensions in isopropanol with concentrations of up to 0.45 mg ml -1 . A study of solubility parameters showed that the exfoliation was optimum in N,N-Dimethylformamide followed by isopropanol and diethylene glycol. Isopropanol was the solvent of choice due to its environmentally friendly nature and ease of use for further processing. For the first time, a hybrid of graphene and manganese oxide nanosheets was synthesized using a single-step co-exfoliation process. The 2D hybrid was synthesized in isopropanol suspensions with concentrations of up to 0.5 mg ml -1 and demonstrated stability against re-aggregation for up to 6 months. The co-exfoliation was found to be a energetically favorable process in which both solutes, graphene and manganese oxide nanosheets, exfoliate with an improved yield as compared to the single-solute exfoliation procedure. This work demonstrates the remarkable versatility of liquid-phase exfoliation *To whom correspondence should be addressed 2 with respect to the synthesis of hybrids with tailored properties, and it provides proof-of-concept ground work for further future investigation and exploitation of hybrids made of two or more 2D nanomaterials that have key complementary properties for various technological applications.

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Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.