Ultrafast synthesis of coal-based graphene

Graphene has a wide range of applications in anti-corrosion coatings due to its excellent barrier, shielding, and mechanical properties. However, traditional graphene synthesis methods, including the production of graphene oxide (GO) using Homer’s method and then its reduction in the form of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are time-consuming, energy-consuming, and environmentally polluting, which limits their application in anti-corrosion coatings. A new study leveraged the capabilities of flash Joule heating (FJH) to synthesise flash coal-based graphene (FCBG) from Taixi anthracite (TA) within 200 ms without pretreatments or chemical reagents.

The FJH had the advantages of low energy consumption and being environmentally friendly. Compared with the rGO, the FCBG prepared by FJH was characterized by fewer defects, larger carbon sheets, and a turbostratic structure. Moreover, carbon steel Q235 was used as the substrate to prepare anti-corrosion coatings by mixing FCBG at different flash voltages with epoxy resin (EP). Based on this, the electrochemical performance of different coatings was compared before and after salt spray corrosion. The results demonstrated that the FCBG composite anti-corrosion coating prepared using EP and FCBG synthesised at 190 V in the FJH, displayed stronger corrosion resistance than the EP and rGO composite coating (EP/rGO).

The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 184, November 2023.

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