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Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

ISSN 2095-2201

ISSN 2095-221X(Online)

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Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.    2023, Vol. 17 Issue (12) : 155    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1755-4
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Synthesis, characterization and life cycle assessment of electrochemically exfoliated KOH-activated holey graphene
Fatemeh Mozaffarpour1, Nafiseh Hassanzadeh1(), Ehsan Vahidi2
1. Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran 1969764499, Iran
2. Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
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Abstract

● Electrochemically exfoliated graphene (EEG) was prepared from pencil graphite rods.

● Holey graphene (HG) was prepared from EEG via the KOH activation process.

● SSA was increased with the increase of KOH amount, because of pore generation.

● In EEG production, electricity and H2SO4 have the highest environmental impact.

● In HG production, KOH and graphene have the highest environmental impact.

Graphene materials have drawn tremendous attention in recent years. The formation of holes and pores on graphene sheets can provide transfer channels and facilitate the ion/electron transport kinetics. In this study, graphene nanosheets were prepared electrochemically, and then, they were used as the starting material for the preparation of holey graphene (HG) through the KOH activation process. The weight ratio of initial electrochemically exfoliated graphene (EEG) to KOH was optimized according to the morphological features, BET surface area examination, graphene number of layers calculated from XRD patterns, and the ID/IG ratio obtained from Raman analysis. Results showed that increasing the KOH amount led to the achievement of higher values of ID/IG and surface area and less re-stacking of graphene sheets which occurs because of the heat treatment process. The environmental burdens of the production routes for the preparation of EEG and HG were investigated by cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA results of EEG production indicated that electricity with the contributions of 94%, 91%, 82%, and 75% of the total impact in four environmental categories, including fossil fuel depletion, ozone depletion, global warming, and smog was the main environmental weakness. In the pore generation process, KOH was recognized as the biggest contributor (about 51% to 83% of the total impact) in six impact categories, including ozone depletion, non-carcinogenics, smog, global warming, carcinogenics, and eutrophication which could be attributed to its high consumption amount (21.9 kg). This work offers environmental considerations for the development of sustainable graphene materials.
Keywords Holey graphene      Electrochemical exfoliation      Life cycle assessment (LCA)      Environmental impact      KOH activation     
Corresponding Author(s): Nafiseh Hassanzadeh   
Issue Date: 24 July 2023
 Cite this article:   
Fatemeh Mozaffarpour,Nafiseh Hassanzadeh,Ehsan Vahidi. Synthesis, characterization and life cycle assessment of electrochemically exfoliated KOH-activated holey graphene[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2023, 17(12): 155.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-023-1755-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2023/V17/I12/155
Fig.1  The system boundary of (a) the electrochemical exfoliation method for the preparation of EEG, and (b) the KOH activation process to produce HG.
Fig.2  (a, b) XRD diffraction patterns, and (c) Raman spectra of graphite, EEG, HG2, HG5, and HG10 samples.
Analysis Parameter Graphite EEG HG2 HG5 HG10
XRD data Peak position (° ) 26.54 26.48 26.50 26.50 26.52
d (A°) 3.35 3.36 3.359 3.359 3.357
D (A°) 214.71 58.27 135.97 116.54 135.98
n 64.01 17.33 40.47 40.51 34.69
Raman data D peak (cm−1) 1348.8 1343.5 1343.5 1343.5 1343.5
G peak (cm−1) 1579.5 1579.5 1579.5 1574.3 1579.5
2D peak (cm−1) 2725.7 2709.0 2725.7 2714.6 2720.2
ID/IG 0.65 0.96 0.96 0.97 0.98
Tab.1  The XRD and Raman data of graphite and the as-synthesized samples
Fig.3  FESEM images of (a, b) EEG, (c, d) HG2, (e, f) HG5, and (g, h) HG10 samples.
TRACI impact category Unit Electrochemical exfoliation (EE) KOH activation (A)
Ozone depletion kg CFC 11 eq. 1.57E–06 8.74E-06
Global warming kg CO2 eq. 1.55E+01 9.68E+01
Smog kg O3 eq. 5.30E–01 5.38E+00
Acidification kg SO2 eq. 3.26E+00 7.43E+00
Eutrophication kg N eq. 1.56E–02 2.23E–01
Carcinogenics CTUh 5.18E–07 7.02E–06
Non carcinogenics CTUh 5.99E-06 3.16E–05
Respiratory effects kg PM2.5 eq. 1.74E–01 4.51E–01
Ecotoxicity CTUe 6.05E+02 2.44E+03
Fossil fuel depletion MJ surplus 3.27E+01 1.47E+02
Tab.2  The values of ten environmental categories of the TRACI method for the synthesis of 1 kg EEG and 1 kg of HG (HG10)
Impact category EEG CVD-prepared graphene Current study
CH3COONa 15 V CH3COONa 9 V KOH 15 V KOH 9 V CVD 1 CVD 2 H2SO410 V
Ozone depletion [kg CFC 11-Equiv.] 2.90E−07 3.60E−07 2.20E−07 4.30E−07 8.00E−02 1.20E−01 1.57E−06
Global warming potential [kg CO2-Equiv.] 4.20E+02 5.20E+02 3.30E+02 6.10E+02 1.20E+08 1.70E+08 1.55E+01
Human toxicity, cancer [CTUh] 1.20E−07 1.40E−07 9.70E−08 1.70E−07 3.30E−02 4.80E+03 5.18E−07
Human toxicity, non-canc. [CTUh] 1.50E−05 1.90E−05 1.20E−05 2.20E−05 5.20E+00 7.20E+00 5.99E−06
Particulate matter/Respiratory inorganics, [kg PM2,5-Equiv.] 1.40E−01 1.70E−01 1.00E−01 2.10E−01 4.10E+04 6.10E+04 1.74E−01
Ecotoxicity [CTUe] 1.30E+01 1.60E+01 1.00E+01 1.90E+01 6.40E+06 8.10E+06 6.05E+02
Tab.3  Comparison of total values of some impact categories of preparing 1 kg of EEG developed in this study with the data re-calculated from the study of Cossutta et al. (2017)
Fig.4  The contribution of each unit process (input materials, electricity consumption, and emissions) in the synthesis of 1 kg (a) EEG, and (b) HG (HG10).
Fig.5  Sensitivity analyses on main contributors for cradle-to-gate LCA to produce 1 kg of (a) EEG, and (b) HG (HG10).
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