An economic route to mass production of graphene oxide solution for preparing graphene oxide papers

Graphene oxide paper (GOP) is a composite material fabricated from graphene oxide (GO) solution. In addition, it can be a novel and potential material for application on the separation of water vapor from gaseous steam or larger alkali ions from aqueous solution. GOP could be used as electricity and thermal storage materials. The preparation of GO commonly uses high purity natural or artificial graphite. It is difficult to prepare GOP from artificial graphite powder due to the cost of $1,450US/ton. In this study, we tried to prepare GOPs from homemade graphene sheets containing carbon materials (GSCCMs) and evaluate the thermal properties of GSCCM derived GOPs. Results show that GSCCM derived GOPs have a higher phase transition temperature, and the average mesophase phase change enthalpy is 9.41 J/g, which is 2.87 times higher than graphite derived GOP. Therefore, to prepare GOP from GSCCMs could highly reduce the cost. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.