Patent ID: 8227386

Claim:
A method of making nanographene particles from at least one nanographene layer, the method comprising: selecting X hydrocarbon precursor and Y hydrogen gas (H 2 ) such that a ratio of X/Y ranges from 0.5 to 1, the hydrocarbon precursor including at least one of CH 4 , C 2 H 2 or C 3 H 8 ; submitting the hydrocarbon precursor to chemical vapor deposition using the hydrogen gas and argon gas (Ar), whereby i) the hydrocarbon precursor reacts with the hydrogen gas and argon gas (Ar) according to the following reaction: X hydrocarbon precursor+YH 2 +ZAr→2X graphene+(Y+2X)H 2 +ZAr, where Z ranges from 5*(X+Y) to 10*(X+Y), and ii) the hydrocarbon precursor decomposes and self-assembles to form the at least one nanographene layer; and while submitting the hydrogen precursor to the chemical vapor deposition, self-curving the at least one nanographene layer by adjusting a flow ratio of the argon gas (Ar) to the hydrogen gas so that argon gas flow increases and hydrogen gas flow decreases, thereby causing the at least one nanographene layer to bend itself to connect thermodynamically unstable dangling bonds on a surface thereof to form C—C bonds, and to form the nanographene particles.