Equipment

The MSOC Nanochemistry Group has focused its research efforts on the functionalization and purification of carbon nanostructures using non-conventional techniques, obtaining results which show how scaling up the modification of carbon nanostructures is possible using green methodologies.

Synthesis equipments

  • CEM Discover Microwave reactors (2.45 GHz), 915 MHz microwave reactor, developed in collaboration with Sairem Ibérica, S. L., equipped with a semiconductor generator (5 kW maximum output power) is able to work with progressive, partially stationary, and stationary waves;
  • 915 MHz microwave reactor equipped with a Richardson Electronics generator (150 W maximum output power) working with progressive waves. To the best of our knowledge, no microwave reactor (915 MHz) with these characteristics is being employed in organic chemistry research in Spain.
  • MILESTONE MULTISYNTH microwave reactors, Microwave and UV-Vis continuous flow reactors these non-conventional methodologies can be used for the modification of the different organic molecules and the graphene surfaces.
  • Planetary Ball Mills are employed, as an environmentally friendly methodology, to exfoliate graphite in order to produce large quantities of graphene with a low presence of defects.

Characterization equipments

Graphene flakes will be also observed and evaluated by SEM, TEM, and AFM microscopies. The structural characterization of the gels will be performed using SEM.

  • UV-Vis-NIR is used for the analysis of the different samples and for the calculation of the final graphene concentration.
  • NMR spectrometers 500 and 400 MHz are employed for the characterization of the triazine derivatives or even the decorated-graphene sheets.
  • Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) are used to calculate the concentration of molecules attached to the graphene sheets and to evaluate the thermal stability together with Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
  • Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) – FT-IR spectra of the graphene dispersions before and after the interaction with the decorated-triazine is used to display the structural difference between them.
  • High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is used to separate the components in a mixture, to identify each component and to quantify each component.
  • Mass Spectrometry (MALDI TOF/TOF), is employed for the quantification of the amount of decorated-triazine on the graphene solutions.
  • Dinamic light scattering (DLS) will be used for the estimation of the diameter and distribution of the graphene sheets.
  • Z-potential can be used for the evaluation of the charged groups in the dispersions.
  • Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) can be measured as to determine the specific surface area of a material.
  • Potentiostat- Autolab PGSTAT100
  • X-Ray Power Diffraction patterns of solid can be also used for the evaluation of the graphene’s quality after the ball milling treatment of the graphite.
  • Fluorescence spectroscopy is employed for the evaluation of the interaction of the decorated-molecules with the graphene sheets.
  • High Performance Computer cluster is available for theoretical studies.
  • Cyclic voltammetry (CV) can evaluate the surface area occupied by the molecules and the  relationship between the answer of the systems and the occupied surface area.
  • Conductivity of the graphene flakes is evaluated by Four point probe, (Four point probe station or spectrum analyzer) and Two point probe (2D material), (multimeter).
  • Mecmesin Multitest 2.5-i: is used to measure the mechanical properties of the gels (compressive, tensile and penetration tests)
  • Raman spectroscopy is used to analyze the quality of the produced graphene, this technique also helps to identify graphene from graphite and few-layer graphene.
  • Telstar LyoQuest-55 Plus/Telstar LyoQuest-85 and Telstar LyoQuest-85 Eco Plus is use to eliminate the solvent. It is a freeze dryer therefore one of our most common use is to prepare solid graphene for different applications.
  • Microscope GeminiSEM 500 field emission, high resolution at any voltage, high contrast images from any sample. It is used for taking high resolution images of the conductive and non-conductive samples and to perform simultaneously microanalysis of EDS and EBDS (both of them OXFORD with advanced packages). CRYO-SEM QUORUM to perform high resolucion SEM images and analysis at low temperature. Leica UC7 RT Ultramicrotome will be used to be able to cut the samples and prepare them for the analysis in the FE-SEM.