We present an overview of the main techniques for production and processing of graphene and related materials (GRMs), as well as the key characterization procedures. We adopt a ‘hands-on’ approach, providing practical details and procedures as derived from literature as well as from the authors’ experience, in order to enable the reader to reproduce the results. Section is devoted to ‘bottom up’ approaches, whereby individual constituents are pieced together into more complex structures. We consider graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) produced either by solution processing or by on-surface synthesis in ultra high vacuum (UHV), as well carbon nanomembranes (CNM). Production of a variety of GNRs with tailored band gaps and edge shapes is now possible. CNMs can be tuned in terms of porosity, crystallinity and electronic behaviour. Section covers ‘top down’ techniques. These rely on breaking down of a layered precursor, in the graphene case usually natural crystals like graphite or artificially synthesized materials, such as highly oriented pyrolythic graphite, monolayers or few layers (FL) flakes. The main focus of this section is on various exfoliation techniques in a liquid media, either intercalation or liquid phase exfoliation (LPE). The choice of precursor, exfoliation method, medium as well as the control of parameters such as time or temperature are crucial. A definite choice of parameters and conditions yields a particular material with specific properties that makes it more suitable for a targeted application. We cover protocols for the graphitic precursors to graphene oxide (GO). This is an important material for a range of applications in biomedicine, energy storage, nanocomposites, etc. Hummers’ and modified Hummers’ methods are used to make GO that subsequently can be reduced to obtain reduced graphene oxide (RGO) with a variety of strategies. GO flakes are also employed to prepare three-dimensional (3d) low density structures, such as sponges, foams, hydro- or aerogels. The assembly of flakes into 3d structures can provide improved mechanical properties. Aerogels with a highly open structure, with interconnected hierarchical pores, can enhance the accessibility to the whole surface area, as relevant for a number of applications, such as energy storage. The main recipes to yield graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) are also discussed. GICs are suitable precursors for covalent functionalization of graphene, but can also be used for the synthesis of uncharged graphene in solution. Degradation of the molecules intercalated in GICs can be triggered by high temperature treatment or microwave irradiation, creating a gas pressure surge in graphite and exfoliation. Electrochemical exfoliation by applying a voltage in an electrolyte to a graphite electrode can be tuned by varying precursors, electrolytes and potential. Graphite electrodes can be either negatively or positively intercalated to obtain GICs that are subsequently exfoliated. We also discuss the materials that can be amenable to exfoliation, by ...

We report on a novel approach to determine the relationship between the corrugation and the thermal stability of epitaxial graphene grown on a strongly interacting substrate. According to our density functional theory calculations, the C single layer grown on Re(0001) is strongly corrugated, with a buckling of 1.6 Å, yielding a simulated C 1s core level spectrum which is in excellent agreement with the experimental one. We found that corrugation is closely knit with the thermal stability of the C network: C-C bond breaking is favored in the strongly buckled regions of the moiré cell, though it requires the presence of diffusing graphene layer vacancies.

Large-area hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) promises many new applications of two-dimensional materials, such as the protective packing of reactive surfaces or as membranes in liquids. However, scalable production beyond exfoliation from bulk single crystals remained a major challenge. Single-orientation monolayer h-BN nanomesh is grown on 4 in. wafer single crystalline rhodium films and transferred on arbitrary substrates such as SiO, germanium, or transmission electron microscopy grids. The transfer process involves application of tetraoctylammonium bromide before electrochemical hydrogen delamination. The material performance is demonstrated with two applications. First, protective sealing of h-BN is shown by preserving germanium from oxidation in air at high temperatures. Second, the membrane functionality of the single h-BN layer is demonstrated in aqueous solutions. Here, we employ a growth substrate intrinsic preparation scheme to create regular 2 nm holes that serve as ion channels in liquids.

We study the interplay between competitive substrate–C interaction processes occurring during chemical vapour deposition (CVD) of ethylene on Re (0 0 0 1). At T < 500 K dissociative ethylene adsorption leads to the formation of a dimer species, producing an ordered (4×2) structure. In the range 500–700 K, the formation of a high-quality single-layer of graphene is strongly opposed by the formation of a surface carbide characterised by C trimer units, and, at higher temperatures, by carbon dissolution into the bulk. Our experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that, under UHV conditions, the formation of a long-range ordered graphene layer on Re (0 0 0 1) without carbon bulk saturation is confined to a narrow window of growth parameters: substrate temperature, hydrocarbon gas pressure and exposure time. Our combined experimental and theoretical approach allowed us to validate a concept which had already been anticipated in some earlier works on Rh, Fe and Ni, namely that the epitaxial growth of graphene is not necessarily restricted to surfaces where carburisation is precluded, but could take place, under given appropriate conditions, also on other metallic substrates exhibiting a strong C–substrate interaction