The preparation of graphene-like materials from carbohydrates and other natural resources can be developed using porous solids such as clays, silica and zeolites, which act as supports of the resulting carbonaceous materials. The process takes place at relatively moderated temperatures (below 800ºC), in absence of oxygen and, avoiding the use of reducing agents and other pollutant chemicals typically used in the GO and r-GO production. Layered clays, such as montmorillonite, as well as fibrous clays, such as sepiolite, have been used as porous substrates to produce this type of nanostructured composites where the generated graphene-like components remain assembled to the silicate substrate (Fig.1). The resulting carbon-clay materials exhibit an elevated C content (ca. 35%) being mainly constituted by disordered carbon including few-layers graphene according to XPS, Raman, TEM and other techniques. Nowadays, the generation mechanism of these graphene-like materials appears unclear but investigations on this topic are currently in progress.

Clay-supported graphenes are simultaneously provided with electronic conductivity afforded by the graphene components and by some of the characteristics of the silicate substrate (adsorption and ion-exchange properties, high specific surface area, and chemical reactivity), which may be useful for diverse applications such as electrode materials for secondary battery electrodes, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage and sensing devices. First attempts to extract graphene from these composites show low yield and additional work is required to optimize these processes.

The procedure here reported represents and eco-friendly approach deserving a low-cost and promising large scale way for graphene-like materials production, especially compared to the Hummers’s method.

The preparation of graphene-like materials from carbohydrates and other natural resources can be developed using porous solids such as clays, silica and zeolites, which act as supports of the resulting carbonaceous materials. The process takes place at relatively moderated temperatures (below 800ºC), in absence of oxygen and, avoiding the use of reducing agents and other pollutant chemicals typically used in the GO and r-GO production. Layered clays, such as montmorillonite, as well as fibrous clays, such as sepiolite, have been used as porous substrates to produce this type of nanostructured composites where the generated graphene-like components remain assembled to the silicate substrate (Fig.1). The resulting carbon-clay materials exhibit an elevated C content (ca. 35%) being mainly constituted by disordered carbon including few-layers graphene according to XPS, Raman, TEM and other techniques. Nowadays, the generation mechanism of these graphene-like materials appears unclear but investigations on this topic are currently in progress.

Clay-supported graphenes are simultaneously provided with electronic conductivity afforded by the graphene components and by some of the characteristics of the silicate substrate (adsorption and ion-exchange properties, high specific surface area, and chemical reactivity), which may be useful for diverse applications such as electrode materials for secondary battery electrodes, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage and sensing devices. First attempts to extract graphene from these composites show low yield and additional work is required to optimize these processes.

The procedure here reported represents and eco-friendly approach deserving a low-cost and promising large scale way for graphene-like materials production, especially compared to the Hummers’s method.