Abstract
We report a scalable and sustainable method for synthesizing graphene oxide (GO) via a non-thermal atmospheric nano-second pulsed plasma (NSPP) process, using methane as the carbon source and water as the substrate. Unlike conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which demands high temperatures, low pressures, and inert gases, this approach operates at ambient conditions without additional gas inputs. The plasma decomposes methane directly on or near the water surface, producing high-purity, single-layer GO with tunable oxygen content and flake size. Gas chromatography confirms substantial hydrogen generation and minimal greenhouse gas emissions. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analysis verifies single-layer morphology. Scaling the process with a four-gap reactor yields 5 g of GO per day, exceeding conventional CVD output while reducing cost and environmental impact. This plasma-driven strategy provides an energy-efficient route for large-scale GO production, with potential applications in electronics, energy storage, coatings, and concrete composites.
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Acknowledgements
LTEOIL provided funding at TAMU. The authors would like to thank the Materials Characterization Facility (RRID: SCR022202) and Microscopy and Imaging Center (RRID: SCR_022128) at Texas A&M University for their XPS, SEM, TEM, EDS, and AFM setups. The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Adam T. Ronderos for performing the EDS measurements and Cameron Stoltz for conducting the Zeta potential measurements. The authors would also like to acknowledge the use of the vacuum tube furnace setup at Texas A&M University Soft Matter Facility (RRID: SCR_022482). The authors thank BioRender.com for providing tools used to create the graphical schematics of Figs. 1, 2a.
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R.B.: Writing – original draft, methodology, investigation, thermal reduction experiments, all material characterization, schematics, and visualization. Y.Z.: investigation. M.A.: thermal reduction experiments and Optical emission spectroscopy measurements. S.T.U.: investigation. S.D.: investigation. J.D.L.: investigation. M.P.: circuit design for a reactor. A.S.S.: investigation. H.B.J.: project administration, funding acquisition. R.S.: Review & editing, project administration, M.J.G.: Writing – review & editing, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition. K.W.: Methodology, investigation, project administration, and conceptualization. D.S.: Writing – review & editing, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition, conceptualization.
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LTEOIL authors (JDL, HBJ, RS, KW) acknowledge intellectual property holdings on the synthesis process referenced here, and all other authors declare no competing interests. LTEOIL funded much of the work carried out on this topic at TAMU.
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Banavath, R., Zhang, Y., Akhter, M. et al. Graphene oxide synthesis at a nonthermal plasma-water interface. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69831-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69831-0
