Intercalates graphite

and Suzuki, M., Graphite Intercalation Compounds and Applications. Oxford University Press Oxford, 2003. 

Research in graphite intercalates has paved the way for significant current interest in intercalation compounds of the fullerenes (Box 7.1) and carbon nanotubes, which represent wrapped up versions of graphite sheets. Graphite intercalation compounds have been prepared with intercalated fullerenes and nanotubes. We will return to carbon nanotube chemistry in Chapter 15. 

Also of current technological interest is exfoliated graphite, a form of graphite produced from intercalation compounds submitted to a thermal shock such as passing through a hot flame. The intercalate 

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Whereas superaeid (HF/BF3, HF/SbF, HF/TaF FS03FI/SbF3, etc.)-eatalyzed hydroearbon transformations were first explored in the liquid phase, subsequently, solid aeid eatalyst systems, sueh as those based on Nafion-H, longer-chain perfluorinated alkanesulfonic acids, fluorinated graphite intercalates, etc. were also developed and utilized for heterogeneous reactions. The strong acidic nature of zeolite catalysts was also successfully explored in cases such as FI-ZSM-5 at high temperatures. 

It is used as a fluorinating reagent in semiconductor doping, to synthesi2e some hexafluoroarsenate compounds, and in the manufacture of graphite intercalated compounds (10) (see Semiconductors). AsF has been used to achieve >8% total area simulated air-mass 1 power conversion efficiencies in Si p-n junction solar cells (11) (see Solarenergy). It is commercially produced, but usage is estimated to be less than 100 kg/yr. 

Solid Superacids. Most large-scale petrochemical and chemical industrial processes ate preferably done, whenever possible, over soHd catalysts. SoHd acid systems have been developed with considerably higher acidity than those of acidic oxides. Graphite-intercalated AlCl is an effective sohd Friedel-Crafts catalyst but loses catalytic activity because of partial hydrolysis and leaching of the Lewis acid halide from the graphite. Aluminum chloride can also be complexed to sulfonate polystyrene resins but again the stabiUty of the catalyst is limited. 

Issi, J. -P., Transport properties of metal chloride acceptor graphite intercalation compounds. In Graphite Intercalation Compounds,... 

Cj(K prepared — the first alkali metal-graphite intercalation compound. 

First metal halide-graphite intercalation compound made with FeCl.i. 

Figure 8.16 Layer-plane sequence along the c-axis for graphite in various stage I -5 of alkali-metal graphite intercalation compounds. Comparison with Fig. 8.15 shows that the horizontal planes are being viewed diagonally across the figure. /,. is the interlayer repeat distance along the c-axis.

A quite different sort of graphite intercalation compound is formed by the halides of many elements, particularly those halides which themselves have layer structures or weak intermolecular binding. The first such compound (1932) was with FeCl3 chlorides, in general, have been the most studied, but fluoride and bromide intercalates are also known. Halides which have been reported to intercalate include the following ... 

The first lithiated graphitic carbons (lithium-graphite intercalation compounds, abbreviated as Li-GIC s),... 

Using dilatometry in parallel with cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements in lmolL 1 LiC104 EC-l,2-dimethoxy-ethane (DME), Besenhard et al. [87] found that over the voltage range of about 0.8-0.3 V (vs. Li/Li+), the HOPG crystal expands by up to 150 percent. Some of this expansion seems to be reversible, as up to 50 percent contraction due to partial deintercalation of solvated lithium cations was observed on the return step of the CV. It was concluded [87] that film formation occurs via chemical reduction of a solvated graphite intercalation compound (GIC) and that the permselective film (SEI) in fact penetrates into the bulk of the HOPG. It is important to repeat the tests conducted by Besenhard et al. [87] in other EC-based electrolytes in order to determine the severity of this phenomenon. 

Twenty years ago, Walter Riidorff wrote a review for this series entitled "Graphite Intercalation Compounds Oil). It was one of four definitive articles to come out in 1959 and 1960 (HI, Cl, Ul), a period of intense activity in graphite research. We have now again reached the "fever pitch, with not only the appearance of several new articles El, H2, Wl) but also the convening of the first international conference dedicated exclusively to graphite compounds (H3). In the following, we shall concentrate on work performed between 1974 and the present. 

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