Flash Graphene Synthesis in Bulk Quantity

Project Supervisor: Dr. Md. Abdullah Al-Bari, Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia

Timeline: March 2022 - Present

About Project: My supervisor asked me if I can build such machine to produce graphene in bulk quantity when he was doing his postdoc in University of Calgary, Canada. A research team from Rice university, USA under supervision of Dr. James M. Tour first introduced this method of flash graphene production.

The machine operates on the principle of high-voltage electric discharge over a very short duration. A capacitor bank with a capacitance of 70 mF serves as the primary power source for the discharge. The capacitor bank is charged up to 300V DC using a custom-built AC-DC converter. An Arduino microcontroller regulates the magnetic switch, which controls the main power supply. The switch remains on for approximately 30 milliseconds before turning off.

The feedstock material is placed between copper electrodes within a quartz tube. When the machine discharges the high voltage through the material, the temperature rapidly rises to around 3000K and then cools down quickly—this rapid heating and cooling are critical for producing flash graphene.

Currently, the machine can produce approximately 100 mg of turbostratic graphene per batch, using carbon black as the feedstock material. The long-term goal is to scale up the production of flash graphene.