Novel Hydrocarbon-Derived Graphene Nanoparticles and Their Morphology, Properties and Applications

Over the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in the industrial production of carbon nanomaterials. Many high-quality nanomaterials require the use of metal-based catalysts, which in turn raise production costs, require post-processing, and limit scaleup. Here, we analyze two new industrial nanomaterials, graphene nanoparticles-A (GNP-A) and GNP-B, that are derived from hydrocarbon streams via a scalable catalyst-free process in a proprietary reactor. The resulting carbon nanomaterials exhibit a unique morphology, featuring nanoscale building blocks in micro-scale networks. The nanomaterials display exceptional performance in several applications due to their pre-networked structure, yet each formulation has their own unique capabilities. These carbon nanomaterials are promising as conductive additives for supercapacitor and zinc ion batteries electrodes, thermoset and thermoplastic composite reinforcement.