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Investigation of commercial cut-resistant gloves claiming graphene additive content

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Abstract

Five commercially available cut-resistant gloves were sourced from four different worldwide manufacturers which were advertised to contain graphene. A method was developed to assess the fibers composing each glove, including dissolution of the constituent fibers using sulfuric acid or liquid paraffin at elevated temperature, to extract and analyze particle additives. Scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was applied to fibers and extracted particles for morphological and elemental analysis; Raman spectroscopy was applied to discern the composition of carbonaceous materials for the ultimate purpose of identifying any graphenic additives. Only one of the five tested products contained conclusive evidence of material in the graphene family, as graphene oxide was clearly presented as advertised. Two of the products, which were sourced from the same manufacturer, exhibited evidence most suggestive of graphite or amorphous carbon rather than graphene. The remaining two products exhibited signatures of amorphous carbon without evidence of graphitic or graphenic material. The four products that did not conclusively present evidence of advertised graphene also contained prolific alternative cut-resistant additives such as steel wire, glass fiber, or a silicon-based particle that elemental analysis suggests may be silicon carbide. Methods and techniques for the evaluation of products claiming graphene content are demonstrated for the purposes of improving market integrity and consumer confidence in product claims.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed in part at the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory, which is supported by the Virginia Tech National Center for Earth and Environmental Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NanoEarth), a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), supported by NSF (ECCS 1542100 and ECCS 2025151). M. Hull acknowledges support of Virginia Tech’s Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS).

Funding

A portion of the research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44ES030650. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ITA International, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    W. Cary Hill & Thomas Amos

  2. NanoSafe, Inc., Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    W. Cary Hill, Thomas Amos & Matthew Hull

  3. The Graphene Council, Ltd., Manchester, UK

    Terrance Barkan

  4. Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Weinan Leng & Matthew Hull

Authors
  1. W. Cary Hill
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  2. Terrance Barkan
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  3. Thomas Amos
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  4. Weinan Leng
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  5. Matthew Hull
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Contributions

W.C.H. designed the experimentation, interpreted results, and primarily authored the manuscript T.B. identified the research topic, provided the tested products, and contributed to discussion and edits T.A. assisted in laboratory execution including preparation of materials and analyses W.L. conducted Raman spectroscopy and provided related insights M.H. contributed to discussion and interpretation of results All authors reviewed and approve of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to W. Cary Hill.

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Hill, W.C., Barkan, T., Amos, T. et al. Investigation of commercial cut-resistant gloves claiming graphene additive content. Graphene and 2D mater 9, 87–99 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41127-023-00070-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41127-023-00070-6

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