10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Nanographene Aerosol Production from Natural Gas by Microwave Plasma
RANDY VANDER WAL, Arupananda Sengupta, Evan Musselman, Kurt Zeller, George Skoptsov, The Pennsylvania State University
Abstract Number: 1120 Working Group: Materials Synthesis
Abstract Graphene is the latest carbon allotrope, revolutionizing carbon science and igniting commercial interests. Synthesis processes are well known, beginning with mechanical exfoliation, varied graphene oxide (GO) routes and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The former two processes begin with a pristine sp2 carbon framework, with the GO path requiring its restoration. The CVD approach is by contrast a bottom-up approach in contrast to the former two being top-down approaches. It requires, however, a metal catalyst to activate the hydrocarbon decomposition and/or mediate the sp2 framework formation. Without this metal an amorphous form of carbon forms, either as pyrolytic deposition if upon a surface or as a form of “soot” if as an aerosol. This presentation highlights aerosol (substrate-free) formation of graphene nanoplatelets in a microwave plasma. Whereas pyrolytic decomposition of hydrocarbons typically produces unstructured carbon, the nanoplatelets are characterized by dimensions of 200 – 500 nm, occurring in stack of 2-6 with morphology resembling mildly crumpled paper. Present selectivity is 50% +/- 20% on a solid carbon basis. Accompanying spectral diagnostics are used to characterize the reacting flow. Possible formation paths will be discussed. The co-production of hydrogen and high-value carbon materials from natural gas offers opportunities to reduce the costs associated with large-scale production of industrial or fuel hydrogen or platform chemicals while also producing synthetic, high-value carbon products such as the graphene nanoplatelets. H Quest Vanguard Inc. is developing microwave plasma processing of natural gas as a modular, compact and portable technology for production of hydrogen and premium carbon products.