An experimental and steered molecular dynamics simulation approach to histidine assisted liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite into few-layer graphene.

A simple and green approach to exfoliate graphite in water was developed by its reaction with an amino acid, histidine (His), resulting in the spatial expansion of the interlayer space. Subsequent sonication led to few-layered nanosheets of graphene in water. Steered molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed that the exfoliating graphene sheet underwent sheered motion before completely scaling off from the other layer.