Exfoliation of graphite with yttrium oxide via mechanical alloying and irradiation with microwaves

Carbon is a material that has always accompanied human beings. Particularly, graphite, one of its basic forms, is very important because it is an anisotropic semimetal that may have high thermal and electrical conductivity under certain conditions. In the last few decades, the basal planes from graphite, called graphenes, have been studied because of their important physical and chemical properties and potential applications in all scientific areas. In this chapter, a small review of graphene production, properties, and possible applications is presented, as well as a very simple method to produce graphenes by the use of abrasive oxides and mechanical alloying. It was shown that abrasive oxide powders with high hardness are a suitable material for exfoliating graphite by mechanical alloying; however, this method is not enough. Mechanical alloying must be assisted by thermal or ultrasonic agitation in order to separate a considerable amount of graphenes. The milled phases obtained by this method were studied by high resolution electron microscopy, and it is shown how to identify graphenes and other graphite planes and phases by the use of fast Fourier transform.