In recent years, the efficient and clean utilization of coal has been widely concerned by scholars at home and abroad. Despite the abundance of global coal resources, the deep utilization rate of coal is still insufficient. To address this challenge, it has been explored the development and preparation of coal-based high value-added carbonaceous materials. In the present study, a novel process was developed for the preparation of graphene using biphenyl sourced from low-rank coal. Using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology, it was successfully implemented for us to grow high-quality graphene on copper foils. The prepared graphene products were observed and characterized using Raman spectroscopy, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The results of this research provide a new perspective for the utilization of low-rank coal resources.

Controlled CVD preparation and quality characterization of graphene based on biphenyl refined from low-rank coal
    Abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Materials and methods
    3 Results and discussion
        3.1 Method for producing graphene using refined biphenyl as a carbon source
        3.2 Production of graphene from refined biphenyl as a carbon source under different growth conditions
    4 Conclusions
    References

• Dun Wu(Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Underground Detection, College of Civil Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, Anhui, China, Shanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Coal and Coal Measures Gas Geology, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi, China, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China)
• Bo Li(Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Underground Detection, College of Civil Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, Anhui, China)
• Cheng Jia(Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale (HFNL), University of Science)
• Min Dong(Shanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Coal and Coal Measures Gas Geology, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi, China, Shanxi Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi, China)
• Wenxu Liang(Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Underground Detection, College of Civil Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, Anhui, China, State Key Lab of Coal Mine Safety Technology, China Coal Technology and Engineering Group, Shenyang Research Institute, Fushun 113122, China)
• Xia Gao(School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, Anhui, China)
• Hui Zhang(Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale (HFNL), University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China)