Pion’s BEE high pressure homogenizers (HPH) specialize in the liquid phase exfoliation of graphite to graphene. Our truly unique technology can impart several beneficial properties to graphene:
Homogenization the incorporation of graphene into products.
Scalability of liquid-phase graphene products.
Stability of graphene dispersions not possible through conventional means.
Graphene processing requires a specific, tailored, and reproducible approach most equipment cannot provide. Pion's BEE brand homogenizers enable users to delicately exfoliate graphite and reduce layers while maintaining a high aspect ratio and cell morphology. Customizing and selecting forces further improves efficiency.
Exfoliation of graphite can occur from the following mechanisms within a Pion BEE HPH:
- Compressible Flow Exfoliation: Graphite is forced through a small orifice (nozzle) at high pressure. Pressure and orifice sizes are adjustable.
- High Shear: The narrow interior of a vessel (reactor) imparts shear which delicately reduces layer counts.
- Cavitation: The configuration of the reactors influences the environment experienced by the graphite. This configuration may include alternating orifice sizes which can induce micro cavitation of bubbles or microjets, and stress waves.
- Collision Exfoliation: The reverse flow mode, returns graphite into the initial flux stream, inducing particle-particle collisions. The force strength is tuned based on the orifice sizes, flow path, and pressure.
- Chemical Exfoliation: Control over the high-stress environment within the reaction cell, and the ability to incorporate multiple materials throughout the process can functionalize graphene.
Pion's BEE homogenizer technology produces graphene which can be integrated to enhance material properties. Optional dual injection stream capability expands development opportunities:
- Effectively mix materials (e.g., cementitious) within the liquid-phase reaction chamber.
- Add nanoparticles (e.g. ZnO) to integrate with graphene creating new products. For example: new catalysts or a modified electronic structure.
- Colloidal assemblies through apolar and polar solvent droplet formation.
This versatility is a disruptive area where BEE homogenizers excel.
A study1 looked at temperature, number of passes, and pressure on the exfoliation expanding to other 2D materials. This study excluded other reactor combinations, which offer many more configuration and processing possibilities.
The Pion BEE homogenizer configuration can be modified to create specific products allowing businesses to have patented procedures that are extremely likely to be novel.
Solvent and additive choice is an incredibly important parameter for the stability of graphene dispersions. Most of the BEE homogenizer instrument is chemical resistant. If incompatibilities arise, suitable parts may be exchanged.
Particle size distribution can be finely tuned. This ranges from clients needing large 3-layered graphene particles, reducing the grain boundaries for their electronic applications, or creating single-layer graphene particles for nano-graphene applications. Forces can be reduced to target the intermolecular van-der-Waals forces or sufficiently energetic to disrupt strong covalent intramolecular interactions.
The choice of graphite may restrict through-put as a preliminary particle size reduction may be required before a quick configuration change to produce single-layer graphene. Applications requiring a solid require an isolation step. We encourage anyone encountering these restrictions to contact Pion as we love to share our processing knowledge and discuss possible work arounds.
Companies involved in the following fields would benefit from Pion's individual approach to homogenization. We are always open to exploring emerging applications.
Applications such as:
- Conductive ink. Graphene paste can reach conductivity levels required for electronic applications (e.g., 28 kS m-1). Conductive graphene inks can be used for photovoltaics, biomedical sensors, flexible displays, automotive applications, RFID, and PCB technologies.
- Battery industries.
- Coating companies wishing to integrate graphene into their polymeric matrix.
- Cement and concrete. BEE technology can exfoliate and stabilize graphene in aqueous solvent at high through-put.
- Companies with an invention looking to advance the technological readiness level and scale-up.
- Specialty surface-engineered companies looking to improve or upscale their catalyst.
- Graphene-enhanced sensors.
- Wearable graphite e-textiles.
- Environmentally-friendly graphene producers.
Pion provides solutions from R&D (10's of milliliters) to large-scale manufacturing (100's of liters per hour). Whether you are beginning processing graphene and need a viable process, working on new products or applications, or scaling existing products more efficiently, Pion provides equipment to achieve your goals and accommodate growth.
Pion recognizes the widespread application of 2D materials and their potential societal impact. As companies innovate and produce products that enable technological advancement, a need arises for proven and dependable equipment that achieves efficient and scalable results. Pion is uniquely capable of providing these solutions and welcomes opportunities to assist in developing new technologies.
We offer unparalleled processing versatility for the liquid exfoliation of graphite that can be foundational to many products and patents. The liquid-phase exfoliation of graphene and other 2D materials can be created, scaled and commercialized through the utilization of Pion's BEE high pressure homogenizer technology.
Contact us to learn more.
1) M. J. Large et al, Adv. Mater. Technol., 5, 2000284 (2020)
