Microwave-assisted Synthesis of Excitation-dependent Photoluminescent Graphene Nanosheets from Glucos

Graphene nanosheets (GNS) have attracted attention because of their superior water dispersibility, chemical inertness, photostability against bleaching and low toxicity compared to other carbon materials. In this work, we explored a facile approach to the synthesis of GNS through microwave-assisted carbonization of glucose with different salts at moderate temperature, which can be a relatively green and efficient route to producing such materials. GNS produced under different conditions of temperature, reaction time, pressure, precursor ratios, and salt species, have been carefully characterized by spectroscopic and microscopic techniques to identify optimal synthesis conditions. The results show that GNS synthesized at 240° for 6 hours with a glucose to metal salts mass ratio of 2:3 present a uniform particle size distribution and a high degree of graphitization. To the best of our knowledge, there are no prior reports of the preparation of such high-quality GNS at such mild conditions by a bottom up synthesis method.