A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: 20 a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halogenated aromatic molecules are selected from halogenated vari-ants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof, wherein said halogenated variants of polynuclear hydrocarbon are selected from halogenated variants of naphthalene, phenanthrene, chrysene, triphenylene, corannulene, benzo-perylene, coronene, ovalene, benzo-fluorene, a derivative thereof having a substitu-ent on a ring structure thereof, a chemical derivative thereof, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix; and d) conducting a chemical means to treat said halogenated aromatic molecules during or after said step (b), wherein said chemical means comprises adding a func-tionalizing agent into said mass of halogenated aro-matic molecules and said halogenated aromatic mol-ecules are chemically functionalized by said agent, wherein said functionalizing agent contains a func-tional group selected from the group consisting of amidoamines, polyamides, aliphatic amines, modified aliphatic amines, cycloaliphatic amines, aromatic ami-nes, anhydrides, ketimines, diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylene-tetramine (TETA), tetraethylene-pentamine (TEPA), polyethylene polyamine, polyamine epoxy adduct, phenolic hardener, non-bro-minated curing agent, non-amine curatives, an acry-lonitrile chain, polyfurfuryl alcohol, phenolic resin, and B₂ combinations thereof; and/or said functionalizing agent contains a functional group selected from OY, NHY, O~C—OY, P~C—NR'Y, O~C—SY, O~C—Y, —CR'1-OY, N'Y or C'Y, and Y is a functional group of a protein, a peptide, an amino acid, an enzyme, an antibody, a nucleotide, an oligonucleotide, an antigen, or an enzyme substrate, enzyme inhibitor or the tran-sition state analog of an enzyme substrate or is selected from R'—OH, R'—NR'2, R'SH, R'CHO, R'CN, R'X, R'N+(R')3X−, R'SiR'3, R'Si(—OR'—)yR'3-y, R'Si(— O—SiR'2—)OR', R'—R", R'—N—CO, (C₂H₄O—)wH, (—C₃H₆O—)wH, (—C₂H₄O)w—R', (C₃H₆O)w—R', R', and w is an integer greater than one and less than 200; wherein said graphene sheet production and said chemical functionalization are accomplished concur-rently.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm, and further comprising conducting a mechanical means on said halogenated aromatic molecules or said larger aromatic molecules during step (b) wherein said mechanical means is selected from exposing said mass of halogenated aro-matic molecules to a gaseous environment, flowing fluid, sonic waves, mechanical shearing, and combina-tions thereof; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix, wherein said step of separating and isolating includes solvent extrac-tion or supercritical fluid extraction of said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings from said disordered matrix to form said graphene sheets.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-25 26 nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix, wherein said step (c) includes a step of dissolving, melting, etching, vaporizing, subliming, burning off, or ultrasonicating said disordered matrix material for separating said graphene sheets.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: 20 a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halogenated aromatic molecules are selected from halogenated vari-ants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof, wherein said halogenated variants of polynuclear hydrocarbon are selected from halogenated variants of naphthalene, phenanthrene, chrysene, triphenylene, corannulene, benzo-perylene, coronene, ovalene, benzo-fluorene, a derivative thereof having a substitu-ent on a ring structure thereof, a chemical derivative thereof, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix; and d) conducting a chemical means to treat said halogenated aromatic molecules during or after said step (b), wherein said chemical means comprises adding a func-tionalizing agent into said mass of halogenated aro-matic molecules and said halogenated aromatic mol-ecules are chemically functionalized by said agent, wherein said functionalizing agent contains a func-tional group selected from the group consisting of amidoamines, polyamides, aliphatic amines, modified aliphatic amines, cycloaliphatic amines, aromatic ami-nes, anhydrides, ketimines, diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylene-tetramine (TETA), tetraethylene-pentamine (TEPA), polyethylene polyamine, polyamine epoxy adduct, phenolic hardener, non-bro-minated curing agent, non-amine curatives, an acry-lonitrile chain, polyfurfuryl alcohol, phenolic resin, and B₂ combinations thereof; and/or said functionalizing agent contains a functional group selected from OY, NHY, O~C—OY, P~C—NR'Y, O~C—SY, O~C—Y, —CR'1-OY, N'Y or C'Y, and Y is a functional group of a protein, a peptide, an amino acid, an enzyme, an antibody, a nucleotide, an oligonucleotide, an antigen, or an enzyme substrate, enzyme inhibitor or the tran-sition state analog of an enzyme substrate or is selected from R'—OH, R'—NR'2, R'SH, R'CHO, R'CN, R'X, R'N+(R')3X−, R'SiR'3, R'Si(—OR'—)yR'3-y, R'Si(— O—SiR'2—)OR', R'—R", R'—N—CO, (C₂H₄O—)wH, (—C₃H₆O—)wH, (—C₂H₄O)w—R', (C₃H₆O)w—R', R', and w is an integer greater than one and less than 200; wherein said graphene sheet production and said chemical functionalization are accomplished concur-rently.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm, and further comprising conducting a mechanical means on said halogenated aromatic molecules or said larger aromatic molecules during step (b) wherein said mechanical means is selected from exposing said mass of halogenated aro-matic molecules to a gaseous environment, flowing fluid, sonic waves, mechanical shearing, and combina-tions thereof; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix, wherein said step of separating and isolating includes solvent extrac-tion or supercritical fluid extraction of said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings from said disordered matrix to form said graphene sheets.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-25 26 nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix, wherein said step (c) includes a step of dissolving, melting, etching, vaporizing, subliming, burning off, or ultrasonicating said disordered matrix material for separating said graphene sheets.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: 20 a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halogenated aromatic molecules are selected from halogenated vari-ants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof, wherein said halogenated variants of polynuclear hydrocarbon are selected from halogenated variants of naphthalene, phenanthrene, chrysene, triphenylene, corannulene, benzo-perylene, coronene, ovalene, benzo-fluorene, a derivative thereof having a substitu-ent on a ring structure thereof, a chemical derivative thereof, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix; and d) conducting a chemical means to treat said halogenated aromatic molecules during or after said step (b), wherein said chemical means comprises adding a func-tionalizing agent into said mass of halogenated aro-matic molecules and said halogenated aromatic mol-ecules are chemically functionalized by said agent, wherein said functionalizing agent contains a func-tional group selected from the group consisting of amidoamines, polyamides, aliphatic amines, modified aliphatic amines, cycloaliphatic amines, aromatic ami-nes, anhydrides, ketimines, diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylene-tetramine (TETA), tetraethylene-pentamine (TEPA), polyethylene polyamine, polyamine epoxy adduct, phenolic hardener, non-bro-minated curing agent, non-amine curatives, an acry-lonitrile chain, polyfurfuryl alcohol, phenolic resin, and B₂ combinations thereof; and/or said functionalizing agent contains a functional group selected from OY, NHY, O~C—OY, P~C—NR'Y, O~C—SY, O~C—Y, —CR'1-OY, N'Y or C'Y, and Y is a functional group of a protein, a peptide, an amino acid, an enzyme, an antibody, a nucleotide, an oligonucleotide, an antigen, or an enzyme substrate, enzyme inhibitor or the tran-sition state analog of an enzyme substrate or is selected from R'—OH, R'—NR'2, R'SH, R'CHO, R'CN, R'X, R'N+(R')3X−, R'SiR'3, R'Si(—OR'—)yR'3-y, R'Si(— O—SiR'2—)OR', R'—R", R'—N—CO, (C₂H₄O—)wH, (—C₃H₆O—)wH, (—C₂H₄O)w—R', (C₃H₆O)w—R', R', and w is an integer greater than one and less than 200; wherein said graphene sheet production and said chemical functionalization are accomplished concur-rently.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm, and further comprising conducting a mechanical means on said halogenated aromatic molecules or said larger aromatic molecules during step (b) wherein said mechanical means is selected from exposing said mass of halogenated aro-matic molecules to a gaseous environment, flowing fluid, sonic waves, mechanical shearing, and combina-tions thereof; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix, wherein said step of separating and isolating includes solvent extrac-tion or supercritical fluid extraction of said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings from said disordered matrix to form said graphene sheets.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-25 26 nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix, wherein said step (c) includes a step of dissolving, melting, etching, vaporizing, subliming, burning off, or ultrasonicating said disordered matrix material for separating said graphene sheets.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: 20 a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halogenated aromatic molecules are selected from halogenated vari-ants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof, wherein said halogenated variants of polynuclear hydrocarbon are selected from halogenated variants of naphthalene, phenanthrene, chrysene, triphenylene, corannulene, benzo-perylene, coronene, ovalene, benzo-fluorene, a derivative thereof having a substitu-ent on a ring structure thereof, a chemical derivative thereof, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix; and d) conducting a chemical means to treat said halogenated aromatic molecules during or after said step (b), wherein said chemical means comprises adding a func-tionalizing agent into said mass of halogenated aro-matic molecules and said halogenated aromatic mol-ecules are chemically functionalized by said agent, wherein said functionalizing agent contains a func-tional group selected from the group consisting of amidoamines, polyamides, aliphatic amines, modified aliphatic amines, cycloaliphatic amines, aromatic ami-nes, anhydrides, ketimines, diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylene-tetramine (TETA), tetraethylene-pentamine (TEPA), polyethylene polyamine, polyamine epoxy adduct, phenolic hardener, non-bro-minated curing agent, non-amine curatives, an acry-lonitrile chain, polyfurfuryl alcohol, phenolic resin, and B₂ combinations thereof; and/or said functionalizing agent contains a functional group selected from OY, NHY, O~C—OY, P~C—NR'Y, O~C—SY, O~C—Y, —CR'1-OY, N'Y or C'Y, and Y is a functional group of a protein, a peptide, an amino acid, an enzyme, an antibody, a nucleotide, an oligonucleotide, an antigen, or an enzyme substrate, enzyme inhibitor or the tran-sition state analog of an enzyme substrate or is selected from R'—OH, R'—NR'2, R'SH, R'CHO, R'CN, R'X, R'N+(R')3X−, R'SiR'3, R'Si(—OR'—)yR'3-y, R'Si(— O—SiR'2—)OR', R'—R", R'—N—CO, (C₂H₄O—)wH, (—C₃H₆O—)wH, (—C₂H₄O)w—R', (C₃H₆O)w—R', R', and w is an integer greater than one and less than 200; wherein said graphene sheet production and said chemical functionalization are accomplished concur-rently.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm, and further comprising conducting a mechanical means on said halogenated aromatic molecules or said larger aromatic molecules during step (b) wherein said mechanical means is selected from exposing said mass of halogenated aro-matic molecules to a gaseous environment, flowing fluid, sonic waves, mechanical shearing, and combina-tions thereof; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix, wherein said step of separating and isolating includes solvent extrac-tion or supercritical fluid extraction of said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings from said disordered matrix to form said graphene sheets.

A method of producing isolated graphene sheets, said method comprising: a) providing a mass of halogenated aromatic molecules in a liquid, solid, or semi-solid state wherein said halo-genated aromatic molecules are selected from haloge-25 26 nated variants of petroleum heavy oil or pitch, coal tar pitch, a polynuclear hydrocarbon, and combinations thereof; b) heat treating said mass of halogenated aromatic mol-ecules at a first temperature selected from 25° C. to 3,000° C. so that said halogenated aromatic molecules are merged or fused into larger aromatic molecules and optionally heat-treating said larger molecules at a sec-ond temperature, higher than the first temperature, selected from 300° C. to 3,200° C., to form graphene domains dispersed in a disordered matrix of carbon or hydrocarbon molecules, wherein said graphene domains are each composed of from 1 to 30 planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings having a length or width from 5 nm to 35 µm and, in the situations wherein there are 2-30 planes in a graphene domain, having an inter-graphene space between two planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings no less than 0.34 nm; and c) separating and isolating said planes of hexagonal carbon atoms or fused aromatic rings to recover gra-phene sheets from said disordered matrix, wherein said step (c) includes a step of dissolving, melting, etching, vaporizing, subliming, burning off, or ultrasonicating said disordered matrix material for separating said graphene sheets.