Stone-Wales Defect in Graphene.

2D graphene the most investigated structures from nanocarbon family studied in the last three decades. It is projected as an excellent material useful for quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and next generation advanced technologies. Graphene exists in several forms and its extraordinary thermal, mechanical, and electronic properties, principally depend on the kind of perfection of the hexagonal atomic lattice. Defects are always considered as undesired components but certain defects in graphene could be an asset for electrochemistry and quantum electronics due to the engineered electronclouds and quantum tunnelling. The authors carefully discuss the Stone-Wales imperfections in graphene and its derivatives comprehensively. A specific emphasis is focused on the experimental and theoretical aspects of the Stone-Wales defects in graphene with respect to structure-property relationships. The corroboration of extrinsic defects like external atomic doping, functionalization, edge distortion in the graphene consisting of Stone-Wales imperfections, which are very significant in designing graphene-based electronic devices, are summarized.

Laser-induced graphene on cross-linked sodium alginate.

Laser-induced graphene (LIG) possesses desirable properties for numerous applications. However, LIG formation on biocompatible substrates is needed to further augment the integration of LIG-based technologies into nanobiotechnology. Here, LIG formation on cross-linked sodium alginate is reported. The LIG is systematically investigated, providing a comprehensive understanding of the physicochemical characteristics of the material. Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive x-ray analysis, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques confirm the successful generation of oxidized graphene on the surface of cross-linked sodium alginate. The influence of laser parameters and the amount of crosslinker incorporated into the alginate substrate is explored, revealing that lower laser speed, higher resolution, and increased CaCl2content leads to LIG with lower electrical resistance. These findings could have significant implications for the fabrication of LIG on alginate with tailored conductive properties, but they could also play a guiding role for LIG formation on other biocompatible substrates.

Synthesising graphene from plastic waste and its use with asphalt.

The global increase in the plastic waste has resulted in significant pollution increase which causes significant damage to the environment. There is an urgent need for waste management practices such as recycling to ensure sustainable development and decreasing the impact of plastic waste on the environment. The production of new materials such as graphene are associated with high cost, and there have been research efforts to develop cost effective alternative sources of graphite. considerable research has been carried out on investigating the application of homo polypropylene in asphalt construction. successful applications of this will ensure recycling and reduce waste footprint of plastic. The paper presents a proposed method of synthesising graphene from plastic waste and talc at 80 %, and 20 % of that after many experiments. Graphene was monitored at (002). (100). (004) peaks at 2 θ = 26.8°, 42°, with 53 successive physical tests conducted to determine the quality of the graphene produced. The experiments carried out resulted in a successful production of a 98 % pure material. The synthesised graphene was then combined with asphalt using different ratios of weight: 2 %, 6 %, 8 %, and 10 % to test the physical properties of the combination. The results were compared with no graphene usage, the findings validated the findings of similar studies which demonstrate at 6 % ration combination with graphene the asphalt provides better results than without graphene. Also, testing at alternative forces of 6.5 psi and 13 psi at temperatures of 25, 40 and 60, the results showed a noticeable improvement. All tests showed better results in creep and tensile strength. It is concluded that there is a proofed concept to follow this approach to recycle waste plastic in ample ways to reduce the footprint of waste.

Sustainable Graphene Production: Flash Joule Heating Utilizing Pencil Graphite Precursors.

The production of graphene from cost-effective and readily available sources remains a significant challenge in materials science. This study investigates the potential of common pencil leads as precursors for graphene synthesis using the Flash Joule Heating (FJH) process. We examined 6H, 4B, and 14B pencil grades, representing different graphite-to-clay ratios, under varying voltages (0 V, 200 V, and 400 V) to elucidate the relationships among initial composition, applied voltage, and resulting graphene quality. Samples were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, electrical resistance measurements, and microscopic analysis. The results revealed grade-specific responses to applied voltages, with all samples showing decreased electrical resistance post-FJH treatment. Raman spectroscopy indicated significant structural changes, particularly in ID/IG and I2D/IG ratios, providing insights into defect density and layer stacking. Notably, the 14B pencil lead exhibited unique behavior at 400 V, with a decrease in the ID/IG ratio from 0.135 to 0.031 and an increase in crystallite size from 143 nm to 612 nm, suggesting potential in situ annealing effects. In contrast, harder grades (6H and 4B) showed increased defect density at higher voltages. This research contributes to the development of more efficient and environmentally friendly methods for graphene production, potentially opening new avenues for sustainable and scalable synthesis.

Biomass Pyrolysis-Derived Biochar: A Versatile Precursor for Graphene Synthesis.

Graphene, a two-dimensional carbon allotrope with a honeycomb structure, has emerged as a material of immense interest in diverse scientific and technical domains. It is mainly produced from graphite by mechanical, chemical and electrochemical exfoliation. As renewable energy and source utilization increase, including bioenergy from forest and woody residues, processed, among other methods, by pyrolysis treatment, it can be expected that biochar production will increase too. Thus, its useful applications, particularly in obtaining high-added-value products, need to be fully explored. This study aims at presenting a comprehensive analysis derived from experimental data, offering insights into the potential of biomass pyrolysis-derived biochar as a versatile precursor for the controlled synthesis of graphene and its derivatives. This approach comprehended the highest energy output and lowest negative environmental footprint, including the minimization of both toxic gas emissions during processing and heavy metals' presence in the feedstock, toward obtaining biochar suitable to be modified, employing the Hummers and intercalation with persulfate salts methods, aiming at deriving graphene-like materials. Material characterization has revealed that besides morphology and structural features of the original wooden biomass, graphitized structures are present as well, which is proven clearly by Raman and XPS analyses. Electrochemical tests revealed higher conductivity in modified samples, implying their graphene-like nature.

Strategies, advances, and challenges associated with the use of graphene-based nanocomposites for electrochemical biosensors.

Graphene is an intriguing two-dimensional honeycomb-like carbon material with a unique basal plane structure, charge carrier mobility, thermal conductivity, wide electrochemical spectrum, and unusual physicochemical properties. Therefore, it has attracted considerable scientific interest in the field of nanoscience and bionanotechnology. The high specific surface area of graphene allows it to support high biomolecule loading for good detection sensitivity. As such, graphene, graphene oxide (GO), and reduced GO are excellent materials for the fabrication of new nanocomposites and electrochemical sensors. Graphene has been widely used as a chemical building block and/or scaffold with various materials to create highly sensitive and selective electrochemical sensing microdevices. Over the past decade, significant advancements have been made by utilizing graphene and graphene-based nanocomposites to design electrochemical sensors with enhanced analytical performance. This review focus on the synthetic strategies, as well as the structure-to-function studies of graphene, electrochemistry, novel multi nanocomposites combining graphene, limit of detection, stability, sensitivity, assay time. Finally, the review describes the challenges, strategies and outlook on the future development of graphene sensors technology that would be usable for the internet of things are also highlighted.

Direct Wafer-Scale CVD Graphene Growth under Platinum Thin-Films.

Since the transfer process of graphene from a dedicated growth substrate to another substrate is prone to induce defects and contamination and can increase costs, there is a large interest in methods for growing graphene directly on silicon wafers. Here, we demonstrate the direct CVD growth of graphene on a SiO2 layer on a silicon wafer by employing a Pt thin film as catalyst. We pattern the platinum film, after which a CVD graphene layer is grown at the interface between the SiO2 and the Pt. After removing the Pt, Raman spectroscopy demonstrates the local growth of monolayer graphene on SiO2. By tuning the CVD process, we were able to fully cover 4-inch oxidized silicon wafers with transfer-free monolayer graphene, a result that is not easily obtained using other methods. By adding Ta structures, local graphene growth on SiO2 is selectively blocked, allowing the controlled graphene growth on areas selected by mask design.

Graphene Synthesis Techniques and Environmental Applications.

Graphene is fundamentally a two-dimensional material with extraordinary optical, thermal, mechanical, and electrical characteristics. It has a versatile surface chemistry and large surface area. It is a carbon nanomaterial, which comprises sp2 hybridized carbon atoms placed in a hexagonal lattice with one-atom thickness, giving it a two-dimensional structure. A large number of synthesis techniques including epitaxial growth, liquid phase exfoliation, electrochemical exfoliation, mechanical exfoliation, and chemical vapor deposition are used for the synthesis of graphene. Graphene prepared using different techniques can have a number of benefits and deficiencies depending on its application. This study provides a summary of graphene preparation techniques and critically assesses the use of graphene, its derivates, and composites in environmental applications. These applications include the use of graphene as membrane material for the detoxication and purification of water, active material for gas sensing, heavy metal ions detection, and CO2 conversion. Furthermore, a trend analysis of both synthesis techniques and environmental applications of graphene has been performed by extracting and analyzing Scopus data from the past ten years. Finally, conclusions and outlook are provided to address the residual challenges related to the synthesis of the material and its use for environmental applications.

Design, Fabrication, and Mechanism of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene-Based Photocatalyst.

Solving energy and environmental problems through solar-driven photocatalysis is an attractive and challenging topic. Hence, various types of photocatalysts have been developed successively to address the demands of photocatalysis. Graphene-based materials have elicited considerable attention since the discovery of graphene. As a derivative of graphene, nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) particularly stands out. Nitrogen atoms can break the undifferentiated structure of graphene and open the bandgap while endowing graphene with an uneven electron density distribution. Therefore, NG retains nearly all the advantages of original graphene and is equipped with several novel properties, ensuring infinite possibilities for NG-based photocatalysis. This review introduces the atomic and band structures of NG, summarizes in situ and ex situ synthesis methods, highlights the mechanism and advantages of NG in photocatalysis, and outlines its applications in different photocatalysis directions (primarily hydrogen production, CO2 reduction, pollutant degradation, and as photoactive ingredient). Lastly, the central challenges and possible improvements of NG-based photocatalysis in the future are presented. This study is expected to learn from the past and achieve progress toward the future for NG-based photocatalysis.

Characterization and Manipulation of Carbon Precursor Species during Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition of Graphene.

To develop a synthesis technique providing enhanced control of graphene film quality and uniformity, a systematic characterization and manipulation of hydrocarbon precursors generated during plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of graphene is presented. Remote ionization of acetylene is observed to generate a variety of neutral and ionized hydrocarbon precursors, while in situ manipulation of the size and reactivity of carbon species permitted to interact with the growth catalyst enables control of the resultant graphene morphology. Selective screening of high energy hydrocarbon ions coupled with a multistage bias growth regime results in the production of 90% few-to-monolayer graphene on 50 nm Ni/Cu alloy catalysts at 500 °C. Additionally, synthesis with low power secondary ionization processes is performed and reveals further control during the growth, enabling a 50% reduction in average defect densities throughout the film. Mass spectrometry and UV-Vis spectroscopy monitoring of the reaction environment in conjunction with Raman characterization of the synthesized graphene films facilitates correlation of the carbon species permitted to reach the catalyst surface to the ultimate quality, layer number, and uniformity of the graphene film. These findings reveal a robust technique to control graphene synthesis pathways during plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition.

Graphene-Based Thermoacoustic Sound Source.

Thermoacoustic (TA) effect has been discovered for more than 130 years. However, limited by the material characteristics, the performance of a TA sound source could not be compared with magnetoelectric and piezoelectric loudspeakers. Recently, graphene, a two-dimensional material with the lowest heat capacity per unit area, was discovered to have a good TA performance. Compared with a traditional sound source, graphene TA sound sources (GTASSs) have many advantages, such as small volume, no diaphragm vibration, wide frequency range, high transparency, good flexibility, and high sound pressure level (SPL). Therefore, graphene has a great potential as a next-generation sound source. Photoacoustic (PA) imaging can also be applied to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases using the photothermo-acoustic (PTA) effect. Therefore, in this review, we will introduce the history of TA devices. Then, the theory and simulation model of TA will be analyzed in detail. After that, we will talk about the graphene synthesis method. To improve the performance of GTASSs, many strategies such as lowering the thickness and using porous or suspended structures will be introduced. With a good PTA effect and large specific area, graphene PA imaging and drug delivery is a promising prospect in cancer treatment. Finally, the challenges and prospects of GTASSs will be discussed.

Defect-Free Graphene Synthesized Directly at 150 °C via Chemical Vapor Deposition with No Transfer.

Direct graphene synthesis on substrates via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is an attractive approach for manufacturing flexible electronic devices. The temperature for graphene synthesis must be below ∼200 °C to prevent substrate deformation while fabricating flexible devices on plastic substrates. Herein, we report a process whereby defect-free graphene is directly synthesized on a variety of substrates via the introduction of an ultrathin Ti catalytic layer, due to the strong affinity of Ti to carbon. Ti with a thickness of 10 nm was naturally oxidized by exposure to air before and after the graphene synthesis, and the various functions of neither the substrates nor the graphene were influenced. This report offers experimental evidence of high-quality graphene synthesis on Ti-coated substrates at 150 °C via CVD. The proposed methodology was applied to the fabrication of flexible and transparent thin-film capacitors with top electrodes of high-quality graphene.

A Novel Method of Synthesizing Graphene for Electronic Device Applications.

This article reports a novel and efficient method to synthesize graphene using a thermal decomposition process. In this method, silicon carbide (SiC) thin films grown on Si(100) wafers with an AlN buffer layer were used as substrates. CO2 laser beam heating, without vacuum or controlled atmosphere, was applied for SiC thermal decomposition. The physical, chemical, morphological, and electrical properties of the laser-produced graphene were investigated for different laser energy densities. The results demonstrate that graphene was produced in the form of small islands with quality, density, and properties depending on the applied laser energy density. Furthermore, the produced graphene exhibited a sheet resistance characteristic similar to graphene grown on mono-crystalline SiC wafers, which indicates its potential for electronic device applications.

A Scalable Route to Nanoporous Large-Area Atomically Thin Graphene Membranes by Roll-to-Roll Chemical Vapor Deposition and Polymer Support Casting.

Scalable, cost-effective synthesis and integration of graphene is imperative to realize large-area applications such as nanoporous atomically thin membranes (NATMs). Here, we report a scalable route to the production of NATMs via high-speed, continuous synthesis of large-area graphene by roll-to-roll chemical vapor deposition (CVD), combined with casting of a hierarchically porous polymer support. To begin, we designed and built a two zone roll-to-roll graphene CVD reactor, which sequentially exposes the moving foil substrate to annealing and growth atmospheres, with a sharp, isothermal transition between the zones. The configurational flexibility of the reactor design allows for a detailed evaluation of key parameters affecting graphene quality and trade-offs to be considered for high-rate roll-to-roll graphene manufacturing. With this system, we achieve synthesis of uniform high-quality monolayer graphene ( ID/ IG < 0.065) at speeds ≥5 cm/min. NATMs fabricated from the optimized graphene, via polymer casting and postprocessing, show size-selective molecular transport with performance comparable to that of membranes made from conventionally synthesized graphene. Therefore, this work establishes the feasibility of a scalable manufacturing process of NATMs, for applications including protein desalting and small-molecule separations.

Investigating the CVD Synthesis of Graphene on Ge(100): toward Layer-by-Layer Growth.

Germanium is emerging as the substrate of choice for the growth of graphene in CMOS-compatible processes. For future application in next generation devices the accurate control over the properties of high-quality graphene synthesized on Ge surfaces, such as number of layers and domain size, is of paramount importance. Here we investigate the role of the process gas flows on the CVD growth of graphene on Ge(100). The quality and morphology of the deposited material is assessed by using µ-Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. We find that by simply varying the carbon precursor flow different growth regimes yielding to graphene nanoribbons, graphene monolayer, and graphene multilayer are established. We identify the growth conditions yielding to a layer-by-layer growth regime and report on the achievement of homogeneous monolayer graphene with an average intensity ratio of 2D and G bands in the Raman map larger than 3.

Metal-Free CVD Graphene Synthesis on 200 mm Ge/Si(001) Substrates.

Good quality, complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology compatible, 200 mm graphene was obtained on Ge(001)/Si(001) wafers in this work. Chemical vapor depositions were carried out at the deposition temperatures of 885 °C using CH4 as carbon source on epitaxial Ge(100) layers, which were grown on Si(100), prior to the graphene synthesis. Graphene layer with the 2D/G ratio ∼3 and low D mode (i.e., low concentration of defects) was measured over the entire 200 mm wafer by Raman spectroscopy. A typical full-width-at-half-maximum value of 39 cm-1 was extracted for the 2D mode, further indicating that graphene of good structural quality was produced. The study also revealed that the lack of interfacial oxide correlates with superior properties of graphene. In order to evaluate electrical properties of graphene, its 2 × 2 cm2 pieces were transferred onto SiO2/Si substrates from Ge/Si wafers. The extracted sheet resistance and mobility values of transferred graphene layers were ∼1500 ± 100 Ω/sq and µ ≈ 400 ± 20 cm2/V s, respectively. The transferred graphene was free of metallic contaminations or mechanical damage. On the basis of results of DFT calculations, we attribute the high structural quality of graphene grown by CVD on Ge to hydrogen-induced reduction of nucleation probability, explain the appearance of graphene-induced facets on Ge(001) as a kinetic effect caused by surface step pinning at linear graphene nuclei, and clarify the orientation of graphene domains on Ge(001) as resulting from good lattice matching between Ge(001) and graphene nucleated on such nuclei.

Physical and electrical properties of graphene grown under different hydrogen flow in low pressure chemical vapor deposition.

Hydrogen flow during low pressure chemical vapor deposition had significant effect not only on the physical properties but also on the electrical properties of graphene. Nucleation and grain growth of graphene increased at higher hydrogen flows. And, more oxygen-related functional groups like amorphous and oxidized carbon that probably contributed to defects or contamination of graphene remained on the graphene surface at low H2 flow conditions. It is believed that at low hydrogen flow, those remained oxygen or other oxidizing impurities make the graphene films p-doped and result in decreasing the carrier mobility.