Green Preparation of Few‐Layer Graphene Sheet Materials Using Naturally Occurring Calcium Carbonate and Plant Leaves

Abstract

Graphene sheets were prepared by calcination of calcium carbonate with plant leaves under the protection of an argon gas atmosphere. This is an environmentally friendly approach to produce graphene. Calcium carbonate decomposes with the evolution of carbon dioxide at high temperature, which is reduced into graphene by the magnesium from plant leaves. The formation mechanism of graphene is discussed in detail. The synthesized graphene sheets were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. Calcium carbonate and plant leaves are readily available and inexpensive natural resources, and this new methodology can be applied for large-scale graphene production in industry.