Influence of different oxidation mechanisms on the exfoliation of intercalated graphite bisulfate using two types of graphite

Three different processes for the synthetization of exfoliated graphite intercalation compound have been tested in two different type of graphite, one in powder form and the other one as flakes. Each graphite was oxidized applying the same experimental conditions (sonification, neutralization, filtering and drying) but using three different auxiliary oxidizers (H2O2, HNO3 and KClO3) previously mixed with H2SO4. The resulting synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The Raman spectra analysis of the oxidized samples correspond to that of a graphene of few layers. Stronger delamination and exfoliation were observed in the samples of graphite, originally in powder form, treated with H2SO4/HNO3.