Boron and nitrogen doping of graphene via thermal exfoliation of graphite oxide in a BF3 or NH3 atmosphere: contrasting properties

Abstract

The fabrication of graphenes doped with electron withdrawing/donating elements can be realized through the synthesis procedures reported in this paper. Doping of the graphenes occurs during the thermal exfoliation step of graphite oxide in the presence of the dopant containing gas (BF 3 or NH 3 ).The materials are extensively characterized by high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, prompt gamma-ray activation analysis and Raman spectroscopy. Their electrical and electrochemical properties related to heterogeneous electron transfer rates and oxygen reductions are investigated. The doped materials display significant differences in their electronic properties where graphenes doped by electron donating dopants exhibit the largest conductivity as compared to those doped by electron accepting dopants. The scalable method reported here is able to successfully implant B and N into the graphene lattice and hence presented important future implications for the production of these materials on an industrial scale. ApparatusA JEOL 7600F eld-emission scanning electron microscope (JEOL, Japan) was used to acquire images under normal SEM mode and gentle-beam mode (GB). The samples were prepared

Heteroatom modified graphenes: electronic and electrochemical applications

“…In such a case, boron was directly incorporated into the graphene lattice. 9 Such graphene demonstrated fast heterogeneous electron transfer, faster than for N-doped graphene. Similarly, B-doped graphene exhibited higher electrical conductivity than did N-doped graphene.…”

“…Similarly, B-doped graphene exhibited higher electrical conductivity than did N-doped graphene. 9 Graphenes doped with increasing amounts of boron in their lattice showed inhibition of ORR with increased amounts of B as well as decreased capacitance.…”

N-doped carbon layer coated thermally exfoliated graphene and its capacitive behavior in redox active electrolyte

“…However, due to the hydrophobic nature of carbon material, the specific capacitance improvements achieved through the above-mentioned approaches are all limited to less than 220 F g -1 . Nevertheless, heteroatom doping (nitrogen, boron [16], or sulfur [17]) on a carbon framework exhibits effective improvement by resolving the problems such as ameliorating rinse and increasing reactivity of carbon electrodes. Nitrogen doping can be achieved either through post-treatment with small molecular agents such as, urea [18] and ammonia gas [19] or via carbonization of nitrogen-rich polymer precursors, like polyacrylonitrile [20], methylated melamine resin [21], and polypyrroles [22].…”

p‐Element‐Doped Graphene: Heteroatoms for Electrochemical Enhancement

“…[12] Furthermore, we compared fundamental electrochemical properties of B-and N-doped graphenes, showing that they indeed behave as p-type and n-type dopants, respectively. [13] This leads us to the review of the next heteroatom dopant, nitrogen.…”