Eswaraiah Varrla

Abstract:

“The world needs to act fast to avoid catastrophe effect on earth”, suggested by the IPCC 2021 report on climate change. It’s a code red for humanity to survive, evidenced by the recent extreme heatwaves, unusual floods, droughts and rise in temperature. The only possible way to stop this by being sustainable in human activities at home, public places, Institutions and at industry. Most of the time, human and industrial activities affect the environment due to large scale and commercial activities. Suppose the precursors are environmentally friendly in chemical industries. In that case, the manufacturing technique and end use of the product can be sustainable, and it can play a significant role in reducing the carbon footprint. The surge in the sustainable synthesis of nanomaterials and methods is recognized in the last couple of years.
In this talk, I will present promising results in graphene synthesis with the help of natural surfactants. The quality of the nanosheets produced is on par and above the quality of commercial samples. The major problem with reported and commercial surfactants resources is its inability to produce micron-sized graphene with fewer defects, a minimal amount of surfactant, and less toxicity [1-2].
After analyzing the samples with electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy techniques, we found that nanosheets are defect-free, transparent, thin, and laterally with micron-sized dimensions. Exfoliated graphene is impregnated in low-density polyurethane (PU) foam with open-shell structures and demonstrated for strain sensor and oil-water separation applications. In addition, naturally occurring clay minerals are potential 3D precursors with wide varying thermal properties [3].
Our results stress that natural surfactants are feasible and reliable to produce high-quality graphene and 2D materials, essential in sustainable and scalable manufacturing technologies.