Synthesis and Fabrication of Graphene and Graphene Oxide: A Review

Abstract

The field of nanotechnology has advanced following the discovery of a two-dimensional material of sp 2 hybridized carbon atoms, graphene in 2004 by Geim and Novoselov. Graphene has received so much attention due to its exceptional electronic, thermal, mechanical, and optical properties in addition to its large surface area and single-atom thickness. This has led to the discovery of several techniques to obtain graphene such as chemical exfoliation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), chemical synthesis etc. However, these techniques are majorly challenged with developing graphene with fewer defects and in large scale; thus, there is an increasing need to produce graphene in large quantities with high quality. Several studies have been carried out to find routes to producing high-quality graphene. This paper focuses majorly on the synthesis and fabrication methods of producing graphene and its derivative, graphene oxide. Characterization techniques to identify graphene such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy (SPM) used to determine number of layers, quality, atomic structures, and defects in graphene is also briefly discussed. This article also covers a short description of graphene applications in transparent electrodes, composites and energy storage devices.

Detection of 8-Hydroxy-2′-Deoxyguanosine Biomarker with a Screen-Printed Electrode Modified with Graphene

“…Amongst the new ways of graphene preparation [18], graphite exfoliation by electrochemical methods [19] has drawn increasing attention in recent years. Compared with the conventional synthesis methods, the electrochemical exfoliation of graphite has the advantage of lower cost, shorter reaction time, easy operation, and being more suited to mass production of graphene [20].…”

Chemical Vapour Deposition of Graphene—Synthesis, Characterisation, and Applications: A Review

“…Transition metals including Ni, Cu, Pd, Ru, Ir and Pt have been studied extensively for single layer graphene growth using CVD; the two most commonly used substrates are Ni and Cu [115,116,134]. In fact, formation of graphene layers on Ni dates back to more than 50 years where it was observed in industrial applications [21,134,135]. Ni (111) has the least lattice mismatch with graphene compared to other transition metals (< 1%) making it catalytically more favourable for growing graphene [136].…”

“…Their catalytic feature makes them more favourable than other materials. Transition metals including Ni, Cu, Pd, Ru, Ir and Pt have been studied extensively for single layer graphene growth using CVD; the two most commonly used substrates are Ni and Cu [ 115 , 116 , 134 ]. In fact, formation of graphene layers on Ni dates back to more than 50 years where it was observed in industrial applications [ 21 , 134 , 135 ].…”

Synthesis of graphene: Potential carbon precursors and approaches

“…Before the advent of this method, mechanical exfoliation was performed using the tip of atomic force microscopy, which enabled the production of 200 nm thick multilayered graphite. On the other hand, the Scotch tape method can isolate a single graphene layer, less than 10 nm thick, from a 1 mm thick graphite layer [59]. The scotch tape exfoliation method was recently modified to produce graphene nanosheets using graphene quantum dots [60].…”