Cooking oil waste from AYAMAS as a carbon source in forming multilayer graphene films

Industrial oil waste has become a novel carbon source for graphene due to its carbon-rich and renewable nature. A new approach was proposed to produce multilayer graphene from waste industrial cooking oil (WICO) sourced from project collaborators, the AYAMAS Food Corporation Sdn Bhd. Graphene was synthesized from WICO through a double thermal chemical vapor deposition (DT-CVD) method. Nickel foil was used as a substrate to initiate the process. The amount of WICO added was varied by 10 mu L increments, ranging from 10 to 50 mu L. The precursor and deposition temperatures were fixed at 350 degrees C and 1000 degrees C, respectively. Eventually, precipitation and segregation resulted in the formation of graphene. Raman spectroscopy analysis of the graphene obtained revealed an I2D/IG ratio of less than 0.5, indicating its multilayered nature. Besides, it has 4 graphene layers by calculating the number of atomic layers. This finding was further supported by outcomes shown through Ultraviolet - visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, where sharp peaks of 30 mu L and 40 mu L were observed at 250 nm. Finally, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) representative images demonstrated an inverse relationship between layer numbers and surface roughness in high-WICO graphene, where a gain in layers smoothened rather than roughened its appearance. Multilayer graphene has high conductivity and a wide bandgap. These properties are applicable in electrical and thermal applications. Through a method known as DT-CVD, it was achievable to successfully produce multilayer graphene by using the usage of AYAMAS, which is usage from the frying oil industry, as a carbon source.