Colloids and Surfaces A 606 (2020) 125457

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Colloids and Surfaces A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/colsurfa

Study of graphene oxide to stabilize shale in water-based drilling fluids T

a a, a b,
Kai Wang , Guancheng Jiang *, Xinliang Li , Paul F. Luckham *
a
State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, College of Petroleum Engineering,
China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Changping District, Beijing, 102249, People’s Republic of China
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

G R A PHICAL ABSTRACT

A RT ICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Wellbore instability frequently occurs in shale formation when water-based drilling fluids (WBDFs) are used. To
Graphene oxide mitigate and avoid the wellbore instability of shale formation, graphene oxide (GO) was used to plug the nano-
Stabilizing shale sized pores, to inhibit water invasion into shale, and to prevent clay minerals of shale swelling. The GO was
Water-based drilling fluids prepared and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and
transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The linear swelling tests, filtration experiments, imbibition tests and
uniaxial compressive strength measurements were conducted to systematically evaluate the protection of GO
sheets on shale. Meanwhile, other commonly used shale inhibitors and nanomaterials (nano-silica) were com-
pared with the GO. The results indicated that GO exhibited an improved performance on preventing clay mi-
nerals from swelling, plugging nano-sized and micron-sized pores, inhibiting water invasion into the interior of
the shale core, and maintaining the shale strength, compared to the commonly used inhibitors. The GO sheets
form the large and unbroken film to protect the shale, and the soft and flexible GO sheets can easily deform to
plug and fill the different shapes of shale pores. Therefore, GO displays great potential to protect and stabilize
shale in WBDFs.

1. Introduction frequently occurred and caused serious detrimental impact on the

The commercial exploitation of shale oil and gas, particularly in the
United States, has attracted worldwide attention [1,2]. The success was
attributed to the horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing techniques
adopted [3]. Meanwhile, some technical challenges were also en-
countered in the development of shale oil and gas. Wellbore instability
drilling operation in the shale formation [4,5]. The primary reason for
wellbore instability is due to the shale interacting with water, which
leads to the internal clays of the shale swelling and dispersing, reducing
the strength of the shale [6,7]. On the other hand, oil-based drilling
fluids exhibit good performance on inhibiting shale and preventing
wellbore instability; however, the oil-based drilling fluids are harmful

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: petroleumliang@126.com (G. Jiang), p.luckham01@imperial.ac.uk (P.F. Luckham).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.125457
Received 2 July 2020; Received in revised form 7 August 2020; Accepted 12 August 2020
Available online 19 August 2020
0927-7757/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
K. Wang, et al.
to the environment and costly, which restricts their application [8].
Consequently, in recent years, considerable research has been devoted
to the development high-performance water-based drilling fluids
(WBDFs) in the process of drilling shale formation [9,10]. Therefore, it
is very important to reduce and prevent the shale-water interaction for
WBDFs during shale drilling.
Shale is mainly made up of clays, mud, and silts, and contains na-
noscale pores and throats [11]. Water of WBDFs can penetrate into the
shale under the hydraulic pressure of drilling fluids and osmotic pres-
sure through the nanoscale pores and throats [12]. The invasion of
water causes the hydration and swelling of clay minerals of shale,
especially montmorillonite, leading to shale dispersion and wellbore
instability. Accordingly, it is necessary to prevent water from invading
into shale through these nanoscale pores and throats. However, the
conventional plugging additives such as asphalts and fine calcium
carbonate are of the micron scale which do not match with the na-
noscale pores of shale, and fail in effectively plugging the pores.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop nanoscale materials to plug the
nanoscale pores of shale.
Silica nanoparticles have been reported as suitable plugging ad-
ditives to fill into the pores and cracks of shale; they can reduce the
permeability, hinder pressure spreading and finally inhibit shale swel-
ling [13–15]. However, the silica nanoparticles tend to aggregate and
precipitate in water because of their high specific surface area and
energy [16,17], leading to a reduction of the plugging performance
[18]. In addition, the silica nanoparticles are rigid and not able to de-
form easily, which is not beneficial to the sufficient interaction with the
shapes of the pores and cracks in shale [19]. Consequently, the plugging
performance of the silica nanoparticle is weakened to a certain extent.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop more suitable nanomaterials to
plug shale pores.
Graphene is a two-dimensional nano-sheet carbon material; it ex-
hibits many exciting properties, and has attracted intense attention
from physicists, chemists, materials scientists, and other industrial
fields [20,21]. Graphene oxide (GO) is usually used as a precursor in the
production graphene by chemical oxidation-reduction. GO contains
oxygenated functional groups on its basal plane and edges, which is
very beneficial to stably dispersing the sheets into water and chemical
modification [22]. The apparent thickness of a GO sheet is approxi-
mately 1 nm, while its lateral dimensions can range from the nanoscale
to microns [23,24]. In addition, the GO sheet is soft and flexible [25].
These intriguing properties of GO promote its application in the field of
drilling fluids [26].
Kusrini and co-workers utilized industrial aluminum wastes (the
spent pot lining or graphite electrode) to prepare the GO, and demon-
strated the GO, as an additive, could improve the rheological proper-
ties, fluid loss control performance, and lubricity ability of WBDFs [27].
Furthermore, GO has been reported as a high-performance fluid loss
control additive in WBDFs, producing a lower filtrate volume and a
more compact and thinner filtration cake than polymeric fluid-loss-
control additives [28,29]. As for the shale stability, the GO was used as
a transport vehicle to carry the specific chemistry to the shale surface
for improving the inhibition [30]. However, there was no investigation
of the plugging performance of GO. An et al. used ethylenediamine to
modify GO and obtained EDA-G, and the results indicated EDA-G could
adsorb on the surface of shale, forming a tight film to plug the na-
noscale pores and exhibiting excellent inhibitive performance [31].
However, there are safety issues with ethylenediamine as it is flam-
mable and likely to cause an explosion. Subsequently, An and co-
workers investigated the interaction mechanisms of GO and mon-
tmorillonite to explain how GO works in inhibiting shale swelling and
dispersing [32]. However, there are few reports to specifically in-
vestigate the GO for stabilizing shale, such as preventing montmor-
illonite from swelling, plugging shale pores, and improving the shale
stability.
The aim of this study is to investigate the plugging and inhibitive
2
Colloids and Surfaces A 606 (2020) 125457
performance of GO sheets. The linear swelling test was conducted to
evaluate the inhibitive performance of GO suspensions for compacted
sodium bentonite pellets. Additionally, the plugging performance of GO
sheets was demonstrated through the filtration test in different pores.
Furthermore, imbibition experiments were carried out to test the in-
vasion of water into the shale cores. Meanwhile, the uniaxial com-
pressive strength of shale cores was measured to evaluate the effect of
water invasion on shale strength. Finally, the underlying mechanism of
GO sheets for protecting shale has been proposed.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
The graphite powder (325 mesh), concentrated sulfuric acid
(H2SO4, 98%), sodium nitrate (NaNO3), potassium permanganate
(KMnO4), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, 30 wt%), and hydrochloric acid
(HCl, 36 wt%) were obtained from Modern Oriental Inc. (Beijing,
China). Nanosilica with average diameter of 100 nm was supplied by
Energy Chemical Inc. (Shanghai, China). Polyether diamine (PEA) with
molecular weight of 230 Da was purchased from Aladdin Chemical Inc.
(Shanghai, China). The sodium bentonite (Na-BT), consisting of 71.7 %
montmorillonite, was obtained from Huawei New Materials Technology
Co., Ltd (Weifang, China). The shale core samples were from Sichuan
province of China, and the mineral compositions of the shale cores are
shown in Table 1.
2.2. Preparation of GO
The GO was prepared according to Hummer’s method [33]. The
detailed process was as follows. One gram of graphite powder and 0.5
grams of NaNO3 were added into a three-necked flask containing 23 mL
of concentrated sulfuric acid with stirring, and the three-necked flask
was placed in an ice-bath (0 °C). Then, 3 grams of KMnO4 was slowly
added into the flask with care being taken to prevent the temperature of
the mixture exceeding 20 °C. After 30 min, the flask was removed from
the ice-bath and placed in a water-bath and heated to 35 °C for 1.5 h,
during which time the mixture became pasty. Then 46 mL of deionized
water was then slowly added into the flask with vigorously stirring, and
the temperature increased to 98 °C for 30 min, after which a further 140
mL of deionized water was added into the flask. After adding 5 mL of
H2O2 into the flask, the mixture became brilliant yellow. The mixture
was then centrifuged at 10000 rpm for 20 min, and the precipitate was
then redispersed in 5 wt% aqueous hydrochloric acid to remove metal
ions. The dispersion was then re-centrifuged and washed with deio-
nized water at least three times to remove the acid. Finally, the pre-
cipitate was freeze-dried at -50 °C under a vacuum for 24 h using a
FreeZone 4.5 freeze dryer (Labconco, USA), and the dried product was
put into a sealed bag; the GO powder was obtained by slightly
squeezing the bag.
2.3. Characterization of GO
2.3.1. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
The FTIR spectrum of the GO was recorded by a Magna-IR 560
spectrometer (Nicolet, USA) with the spectral range of 4000-400 cm-1
and a resolution of 2 cm-1. The test sample was prepared by fully
Table 1
Main mineral composition of the shale cores.
Component Quartz Sodium feldspar Calcite Dolomite
Content (%) 37.1 4.7 6.8 5.5
Clay minerals Kaolinite Illite Chlorite I-S mixed layer
Content (%) 3.6 10.2 6.6 20.4
K. Wang, et al. Colloids and Surfaces A 606 (2020) 125457

blending 2 mg of GO powder with 200 mg KBr, and then the mixture
was filled into a mold and compressed by a hydraulic press under 50
MPa.
2.3.2. X-ray diffraction (XRD)
The XRD analyses of the GO and graphite were conducted with a D8
Advance Diffractometer (Bruker, Germany) using Cu-filtered radiation
(λ =1.5406 Å). The scan range (2 ) was from 5° to 35° with a scan
speed of 2° min-1. The GO and graphite powders were filled into sample
cells respectively and compacted by a glass sheet. The basal spacing was
calculated through Bragg’s equation.
2.7. Uniaxial compressive strength measurements
The decrease of shale strength could easily lead to wellbore in-
stability. Therefore, the uniaxial compressive strength of shale was
measured to evaluate the strength variation of shale. In this test, the
shale cores were placed into suction bottles with a 0.05-MPa vacuum
degree, and this bottle was full of pure water, 4 wt% Na-BT, 3 wt%
nano-SiO2, or 0.6 wt% GO suspensions. After the shale cores were im-
mersed into one of these suspensions under a 0.05-MPa vacuum degree
for 5 h, the uniaxial compressive strength of these shale cores were
measured according to the Chinese standards (GB/T 23,561.7-2009).
The uniaxial compressive strength was calculated by the following
equation:

Rc = ◊1
2.3.3. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) P
The TEM analysis of GO was performed using a F20 transmission (2)
F
electron microscopy (FEI, USA) at a 20 kV accelerating voltage. The GO
powder was dispersed into deionized water with a vigorous stir for 2 h where R c (MPa) is the uniaxial compressive strength, P (kN) is the
to prepare the 0.1 wt% GO dispersion, followed by adding nine times failure load of shale cores and F (cm2) is the initial pressure bearing
the volume of deionized water for diluting and then ultrasonication for area of the shale cores [34].
30 min. A drop of the GO dispersion was dripped onto a carbon film
supported on a copper grid and dried at room temperature. 3. Results and discussion
The samples of GO, Na-BT and nano-SiO2 that were used for mi-
crostructural analyses had the same concentration (0.06 wt%). After 3.1. Characterization of GO
stirred for 3 h, the samples were directly dripped onto the carbon film
respectively and dried at room temperature, followed by the TEM 3.1.1. FTIR spectrum
analysis. The FTIR spectrum of GO is shown in Fig. 1. The peak at 3421 cm-1

corresponds to the stretching vibration of C = O. The peak at 1630 cm-1

is assigned to the stretching vibration of O H. The band at 1733 cm-1

2.4. Linear swelling tests
The linear swelling test was performed by a CPZ-2 dual-channel
linear swelling meter (Tongchun, China) to evaluate the inhibitive
performance of GO for the compacted Na-BT pellet. Meanwhile, other
commonly used shale inhibitors and the nano-SiO2 were also employed
for comparison. In this test, 5 g of Na-BT was pressed under 10 MPa
pressure for 5 min to obtain the Na-BT pellet. After the pellet was
placed into the instrument, 20 mL of GO dispersions, or other inhibitor
solutions, were added to make the Na-BT pellet immersed in those li-
quid. Then the swelling height of the Na-BT pellet was continuously
recorded for 24 h. The linear swelling rate is calculated by the following
equation:
represents the C = C from sp2 bonds. The signal at 1062 cm-1 belongs to
the vibration of C O [29,35]. The FTIR results confirm oxygenated
functional groups have been introduced into GO.
3.1.2. XRD
a strong peak at 2 = 26.5° in the curve of raw graphite, according to
The XRD curves of the graphite and GO are shown in Fig. 2. There is
the Bragg’s equation, which corresponds to the interlayer space of 0.33
appears, and a peak at 2 = 10.8° occurs, corresponding to an interlayer
nm. Whereas, in the curve of GO, the strong peak of graphite dis-
space of 0.82 nm, which is in the reported interlayer space range of GO
[36,37]. Due to the existence of oxygenated functional groups in GO,
the interlayer space of GO has significantly increased compared with

Linear swelling rate = ◊ 100%

ht hi the raw graphite.
hi (1)
3.1.3. TEM
where hi is the initial height of Na-BT pellet, and the ht is the height The single-layered microstructure of GO was demonstrated by TEM
after immersing in pure water, GO dispersions and other shale inhibitor as shown in Fig. 3. A single sheet of GO with some wrinkles is shown in
aqueous solutions respectively for a certain time t.

2.5. Imbibition tests

The imbibition test was conducted to evaluate the mass of aqueous

liquid that invaded into the shale cores. When the bottom surface of
shale cores touched the liquid level of GO dispersions or other inhibitor
solutions, the invaded mass of aqueous liquid was recorded with time
by a personal computer.

2.6. Filtration tests in different pores

Two kinds of filter paper were used in the filtration test to in-
vestigate the plugging performance of GO for different pores. One was
American Petroleum Institute (API) standard filter paper with 2.7 µm
pore size, and the other was a Teflon filter paper (Minglie, China) with
80 nm pore size. The filtration test was conducted using an API filter
press under 0.69 MPa pressure supplied by nitrogen. The filtration
volume was recorded with time. Fig. 1. FTIR spectrum of GO.

3
K. Wang, et al.
Fig. 2. XRD patterns of the GO and graphite.
Fig. 3(a), illustrating the flexibility of GO sheets. Meanwhile, GO sheets
also overlapped with each other as shown in Fig. 3(b). In this way, an
abundance of GO sheets can overlap each other and form a compact
film to prevent the invasion of water. The TEM results indicate that GO
sheets are soft and flexible, which means that GO sheets can easily
deform to adapt to the shale pores and cracks with different shapes.
3.2. Linear swelling analyses
The swelling of water-sensitive clays is an important cause of shale
swelling and wellbore instability. Therefore, the linear swelling test is
commonly used to investigate the swelling behavior of Na-BT in dif-
ferent conditions to evaluate the effectiveness of shale inhibitors. In this
test, the inhibitive performance of the GO suspensions with different
concentrations and other shale inhibitors were measured and the results
shown in Fig. 4. Initially, the swelling rate of all curves increased
dramatically followed by a more gradual increase, which is the typical
swelling character of Na-BT in aqueous solutions [38]. Compared to
water (the black curve in Fig. 4), after the GO or other inhibitors were
added, the swelling behavior was greatly reduced. The linear swelling
rate of the Na-BT pellet reached 145% after immersing in water for 24
Fig. 3. TEM images of GO sheets.
4
Colloids and Surfaces A 606 (2020) 125457
h, which was much high than others. The swelling rate of Na-BT pellets
after 24 hours in 2 wt% KCl, 2 wt% nano-SiO2, 2 wt% PEA, and 0.6 wt%
GO was 79%, 113%, 74%, and 59%, respectively (Fig. 4a). The Na-BT
pellet immersed in 0.6 wt% GO suspension showed the lowest swelling.
Consequently, the swelling behavior of Na-BT pellets in different con-
centrations of GO suspensions was investigated. The swelling rate of
Na-BT pellets gradually decreased with increasing GO concentrations.
When the concentration of GO was 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 wt%, the
swelling rate was 111%, 75%, 59%, and 23%, respectively, after im-
mersion for 24 h (Fig. 4b). With an increase of GO concentrations, more
and more GO sheets could adsorb and cover on the surface of the Na-BT
pellet, which prevented water from penetrating into the interior of Na-
BT pellets and significantly reduced their swelling.
3.3. Filtration performance
The filtration volume of WBDFs adversely affects the stability of
shale. Generally, the less aqueous liquid that penetrates into the shale
formation, the fewer downhole accidents occurred. The Na-BT is a basic
ingredient to prepare WBDFs. Therefore, the capability of GO to reduce
the filtration volume of the 2 wt% Na-BT suspension was investigated,
and compared with that of nano-SiO2 (Fig. 5). When the API filter paper
with 2.7 µm pore size was used in this test, the addition of the GO or
nano-SiO2 in the 2 wt% Na-BT suspension generated lower filtration
volumes, and 0.1 wt% of GO displayed better performance of control-
ling filtration volume than the 1 wt% nano-SiO2 (Fig. 5a). In addition,
the filtration volume was significantly reduced with the increase of GO
concentrations to 0.2%. When the API filter paper was replaced by the
nano-pore filter paper (80 nm), the filtration volume of the 2 wt% Na-
BT suspension was still high, and it became lower after the GO or nano-
SiO2 was added (Fig. 5b). Similarly, 0.1 wt% GO were also better than
1.0 wt% nano-SiO2 in terms of decreasing filtration volume of the 2 wt
% Na-BT suspension. In general, the particles, or sheets, were pressed
into the pores of the formation under high pressure, and some of the
particles or sheets passed through the pores whilst others stayed in the
pores to plug them. In this way, these particles, or sheets, which stayed
in the pores, accumulated and plugged the pores to form a compacted
filter cake, preventing the invasion of external fluids and lowering the
filtration volume. The flexible and soft GO sheets can readily deform
and enter into the pores, while the hard and rigid nano-SiO2 cannot
deform and can only plug when they fit into the gaps of the Na-BT
sheets. Therefore, the GO showed better performance of reducing fil-
tration volume than nano-SiO2, and greatly enhanced the controlling
K. Wang, et al. Colloids and Surfaces A 606 (2020) 125457

Fig. 4. (a) Linear swelling rate of Na-BT pellets in pure water, KCl, nano-SiO2, PEA, and GO aqueous solutions; (b) linear swelling rate of Na-BT pellets in GO
suspensions with different concentrations.

fluid-loss performance of the 2 wt% Na-BT suspension.

3.4. Imbibition tests

The invasion of aqueous liquid is an important factor causing clay

swelling and shale dispersion. The less aqueous liquid that invaded into
pores of cores, the less likely that wellbore instability would occur [39].
In the imbibition test once the cores touched either, water or GO, Na-
BT, or nano-SiO2 suspensions, the mass of aqueous liquid that invaded
into the cores was recorded as a function of time, and the results are
shown in Fig. 6. The mass of imbibed liquid reached 7.3 g after the core
touched pure water for 200 min. When pure water was replaced by
aqueous suspensions of Na-BT, nano-SiO2, and GO, the mass of imbibed
liquid decreased in varying degrees. Notably, the mass of imbibed li-
quid greatly decreased to 3.16, 2.73, and 2.80 g respectively, when
cores were in contact with 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 wt% GO suspensions.
Clearly, the low concentrations of GO suspensions showed considerably
better performance on preventing aqueous liquid imbibing into cores Fig. 6. Imbibition of aqueous liquid mass into cores as a function of time for
than high concentrations of Na-BT and nano-SiO2 aqueous suspensions. different aqueous suspensions.
We propose that the GO sheets adsorbed on the surface of cores and
formed a protective film over the pores to prevent the invasion of water
3.5. Uniaxial compression of shale cores
into the pores. Moreover, it was observed that the nano-SiO2 particles
precipitation occurred in the suspensions after 200 min, which in-
The shale strength directly affects the wellbore stability, and the
dicated that these nano-SiO2 particles were not stably disperse in water,
lower shale strength causes the wellbore instability. The uniaxial
and its obstruction for aqueous liquid was weakened. As for the Na-BT
compressive strength of shale cores were measured, after these shale
suspension, the Na-BT sheets were not as flexible as GO sheets and
cores were immersed in pure water or different suspensions under a
could not form a compact film to prevent aqueous liquid imbibing into
0.05-MPa vacuum degree for 5 hours, and the results are shown in
cores.
Fig. 7. After the shale core was immersed in water, the uniaxial

Fig. 5. Filtration volume of Na-BT suspensions with GO or nano-SiO2 through the API filter paper (a) and nano-pore filter paper (b).

5
K. Wang, et al.
Fig. 7. The uniaxial compressive strength of shale cores treated by different
suspensions.
compressive strength decreased by 30.7% compared with the dry shale
core, which demonstrated that the invasion of water has caused a sig-
nificant reduction in shale strength. When water was replaced by 4 wt%
Na-BT, 3 wt% nano-SiO2, and 0.6 wt% GO suspensions, the uniaxial
compressive strength of shale cores was stronger than in water and
decreased by 19.0%, 11.5%, and 0.73% respectively, compared with
the dry shale core. Furthermore, after the shale core was immersed in
the 0.6 wt% GO suspension under the 0.05-MPa vacuum for 5 h, its
uniaxial compressive strength was virtually the same as for the dry
shale core. This could be attributed to the adsorption and accumulation
of GO sheets on the shale surface, which greatly prevents water from
invading into the interior of the shale core. Though the Na-BT and
nano-SiO2 suspensions with high concentrations had higher compres-
sive strength than a core treated with water, they were not as good as
the low-concentration GO suspension in inhibiting the decrease of shale
strength. This result demonstrated that GO sheets were more suitable
than Na-BT and nano-SiO2 particles in protecting shale from water in-
vasion and weakening the damage of water invasion to shale. There-
fore, the GO suspensions could maintain the shale strength, and reduce,
or even avoided, shale wellbore instability accidents.
Fig. 8. TEM images of Na-BT (a), nano-SiO2 (b), and GO (c).
6
Colloids and Surfaces A 606 (2020) 125457
3.6. Microstructural analysis
The GO displayed excellent performance in above-mentioned ex-
periments, and the microstructural difference between Na-BT, nano-
SiO2 particles and GO sheets was investigated using TEM to gain further
insights into the above results. The images are shown in Fig. 8. The Na-
BT sheets consist of dispersed fragments, including both small and large
sheets (Fig. 8a). The nano-SiO2 particles are small spheres with dif-
ferent size (Fig. 8b). Although these small nano-SiO2 particles could
also plug some pores, they could not quickly form a large area of pro-
tection for shale. Therefore, the nano-SiO2 and Na-BT particles did not
show the best performance on preventing water invasion and main-
taining shale strength. Compared with Na-BT and the nano-SiO2, the
GO sheets formed a large and unbroken film (Fig. 8c). This film could
cover and accumulate over the surface of shale to form a protective
film. Previous studies have shown that the hydrogen bonding can exist
between oxygenated functional groups of GO sheets and the clay mi-
nerals of shale [31,32], which is likely to enhance the adsorption of GO
sheets on shale surface. Moreover, the oxygenated functional groups aid
in dispersing the GO sheets in water [40], and the 0.2 wt% GO sus-
pensions showed good stability without any deposits after 3 days (Fig.
S1). Besides, the soft and flexible GO sheets could easily deform to
adapt to the different shapes of shale pores and plug those pores. In this
way, GO sheets can effectively protect shale from water invasion.
4. Conclusion
Graphene oxide (GO) was successfully prepared and its protection
for shale was systematically evaluated. Compared with nano-SiO2 and
other commonly used shale inhibitors, GO showed improved perfor-
mances on reducing the swelling rate of Na-BT pellets and filtration
volume in different pores, preventing water ingress into the shale, and
maintaining the shale strength. In TEM analyses, the wrinkles of GO
sheets demonstrated their soft and flexible features. Therefore, the GO
sheets can deform to adapt to the different shapes of the shale pores and
adsorb on the surface of pores through hydrogen bonding between the
oxygenated functional groups of GO sheets and clay minerals of shale.
As a result, the GO sheets adsorbed and covered the surface of Na-BT
pellets and shale cores, resulting in plugged pores, thus preventing the
water invasion and reducing filtration volume. Consequently, the
swelling of clay minerals was inhibited, and the shale strength was
maintained. Thus GO shows great potential to protect and stabilize
shale when it was used in WBDFs.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Kai Wang: Writing - original draft, Investigation,
K. Wang, et al.
Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Guancheng Jiang:
Supervision, Funding acquisition, Writing - review & editing. Xinliang
Li: Validation. Paul F. Luckham: Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors report no declarations of interest.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Major Science and
Technology Project of China (Grant 2017ZX05009-003), the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51821092 and
51991361). Besides, the author appreciated the funding from China
Scholarship Council (201906440156).
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary material related to this article can be found, in the
online version, at doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.125457.
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