A one-step process employing various amphiphiles for an electrically insulating silica coating on graphite

Ceramic coatings endow carbon materials with electrically insulating properties. For graphite, it is unclear whether ceramic coatings applied via a one-step process under mild conditions can lead to superior coverage. This paper reports that a modified Stober method with an appropriate choice of amphiphiles could yield an electrically insulating coating layer on graphite (d(50) 3-300 mm, d(90) 6-550 mm) within 24 h with high reproducibility. A silica coating mechanism involving functional groups on the edge of the graphite, Oswald ripening agents, and a bridgemer was investigated. The mechanism was based on the silica coating morphology, which depends on the amphiphile, and the correlation between coverage and surface resistivity was assessed. Amphiphile-assisted silica@ graphite with a surface resistivity of 1012 ohm sq(-1) was produced. The thermal conductivity of the silica-coated graphite (amphiphile-assisted silica@ graphite)/TPEE composite reached values over 75% higher than that of the raw graphite/TPEE composite with electrically insulating properties.