Superhydrophobic Graphene Foams

Abstract

The static and dynamic wetting properties of a 3D graphene foam network are reported. The foam is synthesized using template-directed chemical vapor deposition and contains pores several hundred micrometers in dimension while the walls of the foam comprise few-layer graphene sheets that are coated with Teflon. Water contact angle measurements reveal that the foam is superhydrophobic with an advancing contact angle of ∼163 degrees while the receding contact angle is ∼143 degrees. The extremely water repellent nature of the foam is also confirmed when impacting water droplets are able to completely rebound from the surface. Such superhydrophobic graphene foams show potential in a variety of applications ranging from anti-sticking and self-cleaning to anti-corrosion and low-friction coatings.

Preparation of 3D graphene-based architectures and their applications in supercapacitors

“…Briefly, graphene growth was carried out via CVD at 1000 1C with nickel foam as the template and CH 4 as the carbon source. This Ni foam template-CVD strategy has been extensively studied for the preparation of 3D graphene foams as scaffold for the creation of diverse functionalised materials [17,19,26,39,[57][58][59][60][61][62]. For example, a number of chemicals including NiO [17], Co 3 O 4 [57], LiFePO 4 [58], Pt nanoparticles [63], Si [64], multi-walled CNTs [63], MnO 2 [63], Fe 3 O 4 [65] and MoS x [66] have been added to the 3D graphene foams to create 3D graphene based composites.…”

Chemical vapour deposition of freestanding sub-60 nm graphene gyroids

“…Recent literature highlights the promise of such porous, foam-like materials, in particular those derived from graphene, in applications ranging from (opto)electronics, 1,2 artificial skin, 3 electrochemistry, [4][5][6] and catalysis 7 to thermal management, 8 self-cleaning, 9 sorption and filtration, 10 sensors, 11 bio-medical 12 and mechanical metamaterials. 13,14 Among the various synthetic strategies and 3D assembly approaches, 15 chemical vapour deposition (CVD) has emerged as the most viable route not only to grow highly crystalline 2D material films but also to directly grow covalently bonded, continuous 3D networks of these 2D materials.…”

Catalyst-Free Plasma Enhanced Growth of Graphene from Sustainable Sources

“…A water-graphene contact angle of 160° was reported by Rafiee et al in graphene films having a surface roughness of 10 µm prepared by sonicating graphene flakes obtained by thermal exfoliation of graphite oxide in acetone and deposited on gold 31 . Superhydrophobicity was observed in graphene films with micron scale surface roughness and 3D graphene (or hybrid) foam network by other groups as well [32][33][34][35] . On the other hand, nanostructures of otherwise hydrophilic surfaces can also exhibit hydrophobic nature 36 .…”