Graphitization and Exfoliation of Three Varieties of Coke

Particles of natural or artificial graphite are generally exfoliated by vaporization of intercalated species. This phenomenon corresponds to an endothermic process, the limiting step of which being the heat transfer between the hot source and the intercalated particle. To overcome this limitation, we propose to intercalate a thermally unstable specie: perchloric acid. However, in order to limit the tendency of this acid to explode without lowering the intercalation phenomenon itself, a ternary mixture of HNO₃-HCIO₄-H₂O (1) is used. In this paper this method is applied to green cokes.