Synthesis and Raman characterization of wood sawdust ash, and wood sawdust ash-derived graphene

In the present work, we report the synthesis, Raman characterization and comparison of the Raman spectra of the wood sawdust ash (WSA) and graphene produced from this WSA at different temperatures and burning times. For this purpose, the wood sawdust (WS) was burnt at different temperatures (300, 400 and 500 °C) at a constant time of 60 min, and different times (40, 60 and 120 min.) for a constant temperature of 400 °C. For graphene production, WSA was activated with potassium hydroxide (KOH) at different activation temperatures (700, 750, 800 and 850 °C) at a constant time of 60 min, and different burning times (30, 60 and 90 min) for the constant temperature of 850 °C. Comparing the results, it was found that 400 °C and 60 min are the optimum parameters to obtain the most efficient WSA for graphene production. On the other hand, 850 °C and 60 min are the optimum parameters to activate the WSA with KOH for graphene synthetization. Disorder analysis through the ratio between the integrated intensities of the D=DS + DA, G = GS + GA, DA and GA bands (ID/IG, IDA/IGA), showed that the WSA produced at 400 °C/60 min and graphene obtained at 850 °C/60 min have lower disorder, in respect to other temperatures and burning times. These results show that graphene production from wood-based industry residue is one of the most environmentally friendly solutions of transforming negative-valued wastes to valuable product in an easy, fast and economical way. [Display omitted] •Synthesis and Raman characterization of wood sawdust ash (WSA) for graphene production•Burning of WSA and WSA derived graphene (WSA-G) at different temperatures and times•Raman spectra of WSA and WSA-G using four Gaussian bands (DS, DA, GS and GA)•Disorder analysis of WSA and WSA-G through the ID/IG and IDA/IGA ratios•Lower disorder for WSA at 400 °C/60 min and for WSA-G at 850 °C/60 min