Graphene is one of the most promising nanomaterials with
many extraordinary
properties and numerous exciting applications. In this work, a green,
facile, and rapid method was developed to prepare graphene directly
from common biomass materials such as banana peels, cantaloupe peels,
coconut peels, and orange peels by using concentrated solar radiation.
The basic principle of this method is photothermal conversion. On
a sunny day, the sunlight was concentrated by a biconvex lens to form
a focused light spot with a high temperature above 1000 °C, which
can directly convert fruit peels into graphene nanosheets within 2–3
s. The product is named concentrated-solar-induced graphene (CSIG)
based on the process employed to generate it. The resulting CSIG was
characterized using a range of analytical techniques. The Raman spectrum
of the CSIG displayed two distinct peaks corresponding to the D and
G bands at ∼1343 and ∼1568 cm
–1
, respectively.
Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and
X-ray diffraction were used to confirm that the CSIG consists of a
few layers of turbostratic graphene nanosheets. Atomic force microscopy
characterization revealed that the CSIG nanosheets have a thickness
of ∼4 nm. The antibacterial potential of the CSIG was also
explored. The CSIG had a strong inhibitory effect on the growth of
Escherichia coli
. This simple, green, and straightforward
method for producing graphene may open a new route for turning waste
into useful materials: an inexhaustible and pollution-free natural
resource can be readily exploited by using a solar tracker-lens system
for the large-scale production of graphene materials directly from
low-cost biomass materials.