TY - JOUR
T1 - High-quality graphene sheets decorated with ZIF-8 nanocrystals
AU - Tsoufis, Theodore
AU - Tampaxis, Christos
AU - Spanopoulos, Ioannis
AU - Steriotis, Theodore
AU - Katsaros, Fotios
AU - Charalambopoulou, Georgia
AU - Trikalitis, Pantelis N.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work received financial support from EU under the FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-CarbonCROFs project (No. 331612 ). The authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Dr. G. Evangelakis (Physics Department, University of Ioannina) for access to XPS measurements.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017
PY - 2018/5/15
Y1 - 2018/5/15
N2 - Excellent-quality graphene sheets produced via the direct liquid phase exfoliation of highly crystalline graphite (avoiding any oxidative treatment), were employed for the first time as 2D scaffolds for the in-situ synthesis of zeolitic-imidazolate-framework (ZIF-8) material. Our synthetic approach involved the efficient, urea-assisted exfoliation of natural graphite (without using any acids), and the subsequent selective, mild functionalization of the resulting high-quality graphene sheets with benzoic acid functional groups. The graphene derivatives were next decorated via the in-situ development of ultrasmall (approx. 30 nm) ZIF-8 nanocrystals. We discuss the critical role of the functionalized graphene to the selective nucleation and crystal growth of ZIF-8 nanocrystals exclusively at their surface. In-depth gas sorption studies of different gases revealed that the novel ZIF-8@Graph nano-composites exhibited improved porosity (in terms of surface area and pore volume) compared to analogous Graphene Oxide/ZIF-8 hybrids. In addition, the gate effect of the ZIF-8 nanocrystals anchored onto the high-quality graphene, was found very different compared to bulk ZIF-8, a behavior that is attributed mainly to the significantly smaller crystal size and the perfect 2D confinement of ZIF-8 along graphene. Finally, preliminary CO2 adsorption properties of the synthesized novel nano-composites are reported, at near ambient temperature.
AB - Excellent-quality graphene sheets produced via the direct liquid phase exfoliation of highly crystalline graphite (avoiding any oxidative treatment), were employed for the first time as 2D scaffolds for the in-situ synthesis of zeolitic-imidazolate-framework (ZIF-8) material. Our synthetic approach involved the efficient, urea-assisted exfoliation of natural graphite (without using any acids), and the subsequent selective, mild functionalization of the resulting high-quality graphene sheets with benzoic acid functional groups. The graphene derivatives were next decorated via the in-situ development of ultrasmall (approx. 30 nm) ZIF-8 nanocrystals. We discuss the critical role of the functionalized graphene to the selective nucleation and crystal growth of ZIF-8 nanocrystals exclusively at their surface. In-depth gas sorption studies of different gases revealed that the novel ZIF-8@Graph nano-composites exhibited improved porosity (in terms of surface area and pore volume) compared to analogous Graphene Oxide/ZIF-8 hybrids. In addition, the gate effect of the ZIF-8 nanocrystals anchored onto the high-quality graphene, was found very different compared to bulk ZIF-8, a behavior that is attributed mainly to the significantly smaller crystal size and the perfect 2D confinement of ZIF-8 along graphene. Finally, preliminary CO2 adsorption properties of the synthesized novel nano-composites are reported, at near ambient temperature.
KW - Gate effect
KW - Graphene
KW - High surface area
KW - Nanocomposite materials
KW - Nanocrystals
KW - Zeolitic imidazolate framework
KW - ZIF-8
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U2 - 10.1016/j.micromeso.2017.11.010
DO - 10.1016/j.micromeso.2017.11.010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85034751529
SN - 1387-1811
VL - 262
SP - 68
EP - 76
JO - Zeolites
JF - Zeolites
ER -