Production of graphene directly from biomass precursor

Abstract

Provided is a method of producing isolated graphene sheets directly from a biomass, the method including: (A) providing a biomass in a liquid state, solution state, solid state, or semi-solid state; (B) heat treating the biomass and, concurrently or sequentially, using chemical or mechanical means to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein the graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.4 nm; and (C) separating and isolating these planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover graphene sheets from said disordered matrix.