Exfoliated Nanographite Inorganic-Based Composite Using Microfluidization.

Producing a few layers of nanographite flakes while maintaining micrometer-scale lateral dimensions remains a long-standing challenge. Conventional chemical and mechanical exfoliation methods are often costly, toxic, and difficult to scale, and they might also cause structural defects and debris. Our work addresses these issues, providing a scalable and cleaner route to high-quality exfoliated nanographite by using microfluidization. Through combined sequential processes of ultrasonication and microfluidization, we developed a methodology to produce exfoliated graphite flakes down to dozens of graphene layers while preserving the original micrometric sheet sizes. With the proposed methodology, it is also possible to control the concentration of the exfoliated nanographite obtained. Finally, we demonstrate the successful incorporation of the exfoliated nanographite into an inorganic-based composite based on sodium silicate, which ensures strong surface interaction and enables the fabrication of uniform thin films. The development of this composite expands the functional scope of exfoliated graphite for applications in coatings, optics, and photonics.