TY - JOUR A1 - Reed, B.P. A1 - Marchesini, S. A1 - Chemello, Giovanni A1 - Morgan, D.J. A1 - Vyas, N. A1 - Howe, T. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Clifford, C,A. A1 - Pollard, A.J. T1 - The influence of sample preparation on XPS quantification of oxygen-functionalised graphene nanoplatelets N2 - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is widely used for characterising the chemistry of graphene-related two-dimensional materials (GR2M), however the careful preparation of the sample for analysis is important in obtaining representative quantifications. We report an investigation by three laboratories showing that the preparation method for oxygen-functionalised graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) powders has a significant effect on the homogeneous-equivalent elemental composition measured in XPS. We show that pressing GNP powders onto adhesive tapes, into recesses, or into solid pellets results in inconsistencies in the XPS quantification. The measured oxygen-to-carbon atomic ratio from GNP pellets depends upon the die pressure used to form them and the morphology of the GNPs themselves. We recommend that powder samples of GR2Ms are pelletised prior to XPS analysis to improve repeatability and reproducibility of measurements. KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Graphene related two-dimensional materials (GR2M) KW - Pelletization KW - Powder PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2023.118054 SN - 0008-6223 VL - 211 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-57694 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chemello, Giovanni A1 - Knigge, Xenia A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Reed, B.P. A1 - Pollard, A.J. A1 - Clifford, C.A. A1 - Howe, T. A1 - Vyas, N. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Radnik, Jörg T1 - Influence of the Morphology on the Functionalization of Graphene Nanoplatelets Analyzed by Comparative Photoelectron Spectroscopy with Soft and Hard X-Rays N2 - Since its isolation, graphene has received growing attention from academia and industry due to its unique properties. However, the “what is my material” barrier hinders further commercialization. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is considered as a method of choice for the determination of the elemental and chemical composition. In this work the influence of the morphology of graphene particles on the XPS results is studied and investigated as a function of X-ray energy, using conventional XPS with Al K𝜶 radiation and hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) using Cr K𝜶 radiation. Thereby, the information depth is varied between 10 and 30 nm. For this purpose, two commercial powders containing graphene nanoplatelets with lateral dimensions of either ≈100 nm or in the micrometer range are compared. These larger ones exist as stack of graphene layers which is inspected with scanning electron microscopy. Both kinds of particles are then functionalized with either oxygen or fluorine. The size of the graphene particles is found to influence the degree of functionalization. Only the combination of XPS and HAXPES allows to detect the functionalization at the outermost surface of the particles or even of the stacks and to provide new insights into the functionalization process. KW - Functionalized graphene KW - Hard-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-578860 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202300116 SN - 2196-7350 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley VCH AN - OPUS4-57886 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chemello, Giovanni A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - XPS–SEM/EDS Tandem Analysis for the Elemental Composition of Functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets N2 - Over the past decade, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has advanced to enable the accurate analysis of light elements such as C, N, or O. For this reason, EDS is becoming increasingly interesting as an analytical method for the elemental analysis of functionalized graphene and could be an attractive alternative to Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which is considered the most important method for elemental analysis. In this study, comparative XPS and EDS investigations under different excitation conditions are carried out on commercially available powders containing graphene particles with different morphologies. The slightly different XPS/HAXPES and EDS results can be explained by the different information depths of the methods and the functionalization of the particle surfaces. For the material with smaller graphene particles and higher O/C ratios, all methods reported a lower O/C ratio in pellets compared with the unpressed powder samples. This clearly shows that sample preparation has a significant influence on the quantification results, especially for such a type of morphology. Overall, the study demonstrates that EDS is a reliable and fast alternative to XPS for the elemental quantification of functionalized graphene particles, provided that differences in the information depth are taken into account. Particle morphology can be examined in parallel with quantitative element analysis, since EDS spectrometers are typically coupled with SEM, which are available in a huge number of analytical laboratories. KW - Graphene oxide KW - SEM/EDS KW - XPS/HAXPES KW - Elemental composition KW - Functionalization PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647294 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.5c07830 SN - 2470-1343 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-64729 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Chemello, Giovanni A1 - Knigge, Xenia A1 - Al-Sabbgh, Dominik A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - XPS, HAXPES, XRD and SEM datasets of functionalized graphene nanoplateletes N2 - The datasets from (Hard Energy) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Scanning Electron Microsopy are related to the publication G. Chemello, X. Knigge, D. Ciornii, B.P. Reed, A.J. Pollard, C.A. Clifford, T. Howe, N. Vyas, V.-D. Hodoroaba, J. Radnik "Influence of the morphology on the functionalization of graphene nanoplatelets analyzed by comparative photoelectron spectroscopy with soft and hard X-rays" Advanced Materials Interfaces (2023), DOI: 10.1002/admi.202300116. KW - Graphene related 2D materials KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Hard-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Scanning electron microscopy KW - Powder X-ray diffraction PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7956497 PB - Zenodo CY - Geneva AN - OPUS4-57898 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Chemello, Giovanni T1 - Characterization of industrial graphene using HAXPES N2 - A comparative analysis is performed by XPS, HAXPES and SEM of industrial functionalised graphene powder of different morphology. The chemical analysis carried out by XPS, which probing depth is around 10nm, and HAXPES, which can reach up to 30nm probing depth. By combining these two techniques is possible to get a rough, non-destructive depth profiling of the sample's surface. The results show a higher concentration of the functionlisation elements on the surface of the sample and the influence of the morphology on the functionalisation process and the C/O ratio. T2 - SALSA Make and Measure 2022 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 15.09.2022 KW - Graphene KW - XPS KW - HAXPES KW - SEM KW - Graphene funcionalisation PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55971 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Chemello, Giovanni T1 - Analysis of industrial graphene-based flakes – first results on morphological characterization, sample preparation and chemical composition N2 - Before industrial grade graphene could reach comparable quality to the controlled laboratory scale material, many challenges must be overcome. In order to bridge the gap between lab-scale and industrial-scale production is necessary to develop processes, equipment and measurement procedures to control the material features. One of the most crucial reasons of graphene’s limited commercialization is the lack of standard procedures to properly characterize and define the material chemical and structural properties down to the nanometer level. This leads to many issues regarding material synthesis repeatability, inappropriateness choice of measurands and measurement reproducibility which heavily affect the consistency of the material performance. For example, among all the different industrially produced real-world graphene, it is crucial to determine how many layers of graphene build the material. Products that are built by more than 10 layers should be more correctly referred as nanosized graphite, a problem that is often regarded as the “fake graphene” issue. In our study, a comparative analysis is performed on two different series (G5 and G6) of industrial graphene powders, each series produced with four types of functionalization: raw graphene, oxygen-functionalized, nitrogen-functionalized and fluorine-functionalized. All the 8 sample variants were analyzed from a chemical and morphological point of view in the form of powders prepared as slightly pressed in metallic sample holders. The results of the comparative chemical analyses XPS and EDS show a good agreement in the concentration values for all the elements present in the samples, despite the different analysis volumes addressed by the two techniques. For this reason, the samples can be considered homogeneous in both lateral and vertical direction. A clear influence of the morphology on the composition is evident. Therefore, such correlative measurements of morphology and composition are necessary for a comprehensive characterization of industrial graphene flakes. Protocols for reliable characterization of industrial graphene flakes are in progress. T2 - Microscopy and Microanalysis 2022 CY - Portland, OR, USA DA - 31.07.2022 KW - Graphene powder KW - Functionalized graphene KW - XPS KW - SEM KW - EDS PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55479 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Chemello, Giovanni T1 - Measurement of the morphology of graphene related 2D materials as flakes N2 - The presentation shows the results of the mini-interlaboratory comparison focused on the measurement of the morphology of graphene oxide flakes using scanning electron microscopy. In this work, a route for the sample preparation, SEM measurement and image analysis is proposed. The results of the image analysis, performed on 200+ flakes per sample, are presented by comparing the distributions of the size and shape descriptors calculated according to two different approaches. The influences of a different SEM measurement operator, analysis approach and analysis operator on the final size and shape distributions are highlighted. T2 - EMRS Fall 2023 CY - Warsaw, Poland DA - 18.09.2023 KW - Graphene oxide KW - SEM KW - 2D flakes KW - Image analysis PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58752 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Chemello, Giovanni T1 - Characterization of Graphene using HAXPES N2 - Since its discovery, graphene has got growing attention in the industrial and application research due to its unique properties . However, graphene has not been yet implemented into the industrial market, in particularly due to the difficulty of properly characterizing this challenging material. As most of other nanomaterials, graphene’s properties are closely linked to its chemical and structural properties, such as number of layers, flake thickness, degree of functionalisation and C/O ratio. For the commercialization, suitable procedures for the measurement and characterization of the ultrathin flakes, of lateral dimensions in the range from µm to tens of µm, are essential.Surface chemical methods, especially XPS, have an outstanding role of providing chemical information on the composition. Thereby, one well-known problem for surface analytical methods is the influence of contamination on the composition as in the case of adventitious carbon. The differentiation between carbon originated from the contamination or from the graphene sample itself is often not obvious, which can lead to altered results in the determination of the composition. To overcome this problem, Hard Energy X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HAXPES) offers new possibilities due to its higher information depth. Therefore, XPS measurement obtained with Al Kα radiation (E = 1486. 6 eV) were compared with analyses performed with a Cr Kα (E = 5414. 8 eV) excitation on functionalized graphene samples. Differences are discussed in terms of potential carbon contamination, but also of oxygen on the composition of the samples. Measurements are performed on O-, N- and F-functionalized graphene. Different preparation procedures (powder, pellet, drop cast from liquid suspension) will be also discussed, correlation of the results with the flakes morphology as well as their validation with other independent methods are in progress. T2 - ECASIA 2022 CY - Limerick, Ireland DA - 29.05.2022 KW - Graphene KW - Functionalized graphene KW - Depth profiling PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56814 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chemello, Giovanni A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Analysis of Industrial Graphene-Based Flakes – First Results on Morphological Characterization, Sample Preparation and Chemical Composition N2 - In order to bridge the gap between lab-scale and industrial-scale production of graphene it is necessary to develop processes, equipment and measurement procedures to control the material features. One of the crucial reasons of graphene’s limited commercialization is the lack of standard procedures to properly characterize and define the material chemical and structural properties down to the nanometer level. This leads to many issues regarding material synthesis repeatability, inappropriateness choice of measurands and measurement reproducibility which heavily affect the consistency of the material performance. In our study, a comparative analysis is performed on two different series (G5 and G6) of industrial graphene powders, each series produced with four types of functionalization: raw graphene, oxygen-functionalized, nitrogen-functionalized and fluorine-functionalized. All the 8 sample variants were analyzed from a chemical and morphological point of view in the form of powders prepared as slightly pressed in metallic sample holders. The results of the comparative chemical analyses XPS and EDS show a good agreement in the concentration values for all the elements present in the samples, despite the different analysis volumes addressed by the two techniques. For this reason, the samples can be considered homogeneous in both lateral and vertical direction. A clear influence of the morphology on the composition is evident. Therefore, such correlative measurements of morphology and composition are necessary for a comprehensive characterization of industrial graphene flakes. KW - Graphene powder KW - XPS KW - HAXPES KW - SEM KW - EDS KW - Functionalized graphene PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927622004342 SN - 1435-8115 VL - 28 IS - Suppl 1 SP - 1006 EP - 1008 PB - Cambridge University Press CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-55512 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chemello, Giovanni A1 - Despotelis, Konstantinos A1 - Paton, Keith A1 - Clifford, Charles A A1 - Pollard, Andrew A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Approaches for the measurement of lateral dimensions of graphene oxide flakes using scanning electron microscopy N2 - There is a practical need, especially from the industrial community, to accurately measure the size and shape of graphene oxide (GO) flakes of commercial origin, in a reliable, simple, and unambiguous way. The sample preparation is a decisive step to obtain a homogeneous distribution of flakes on a substrate, which is suitable for image analysis. A certain level of inhomogeneity was still found but could be accepted for the purpose of this lateral size measurement study. A measurement procedure for Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) including sample preparation, measurement, image analysis and reporting was developed and validated to be applied for the lateral size analysis of “real-world” 2D flakes. Samples were produced for analysis by drop casting GO dispersions onto Si/SiO2 substrates. After SEM imaging, the images were analysed using two approaches to derive size and shape parameters. The influence of different operators has been evaluated. A maximum difference of 10% for the size descriptor and 2% for shape descriptor was found for both image analysis approaches when different samples of the same source material are measured and analysed by the same operator, hence indicating variability caused by sample preparation and analysing different sample areas. When different laboratories/operators perform the image analysis on exactly the same images and same flakes, the deviation found for the size descriptor is 2% and 4.6% corresponding to the two approaches applied, while no difference in the shape descriptor is observed. KW - Graphene oxide KW - SEM KW - Lateral dimension KW - Standardisation KW - Imaging PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-625070 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/2632-959X/adae28 VL - 6 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - IOP Publishing AN - OPUS4-62507 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -