  The scalable and high-efficiency production of two-dimensional (2D) materials
is a prerequisite to their commercial use. Currently, only graphene and
graphene oxide can be produced on a ton scale, and the inability to produce
other 2D materials on such a large scale hinders their technological
applications. Here we report a grinding exfoliation method that uses
micro-particles as force intermediates to resolve applied compressive forces
into a multitude of small shear forces, inducing the highly-efficient
exfoliation of layer materials. The method, referred to as
intermediate-assisted grinding exfoliation (iMAGE), can be used for the
large-scale production of many 2D materials. As an example, we have exfoliated
bulk h-BN into 2D h-BN with large flake sizes, high quality and structural
integrity, with a high exfoliation yield of 67%, a high production rate of 0.3
g h-1 and a low energy consumption of 3.01x10^6 J g-1. The production rate and
energy consumption are one to two orders of magnitude better than previous
results. Besides h-BN, this iMAGE technology has been used to exfoliate various
layer materials such as graphite, black phosphorus, transition metal
dichalcogenides, and metal oxides, proving its universality. Molybdenite
concentrate, a natural low-cost and abundant mineral, was used as a demo for
the large-scale exfoliation production of 2D MoS2 flakes. Our work indicates
the huge potential of the iMAGE method to produce large amounts of various 2D
materials, which paves the way for their commercial application.
