Chapter 9 - Graphene and graphene oxide-reinforced 3D and 4D printable composites

Abstract

Graphene has emerged as an attractive two-dimensional (2D) carbon nanomaterial because of its outstanding properties. Graphene, together with its derivatives, has ignited a dreamed “bottom up” strategy to construct new materials with great expectations to inherit the outstanding properties of graphene. The macroscopic assembly of graphene has led to many graphene-based materials, such as fibers, films, aerogels, etc. As the assembly of graphene meets three-dimensional printing (3DP), also known as additive manufacturing, richer graphene materials can be programmably designed with arbitrary geometries and controllable microstructures in high precision, which enables a wide scope of potential applications. In this chapter, we provide an introduction to 3D printed graphene materials and give an overview on the new advances. First, we review the explorations in enabling 3DP techniques, including direct ink writing (DIW), fused deposition modeling (FDM), and stereolithography, to produce fine-tuned graphene-based materials and their composites. The following is the overview of the produced materials species, the structural design in a wide size range, and the corresponding properties. Next, we introduce the valuable applications of 3D printed graphene-based materials in many vicinities, such as the lithium-ion battery, supercapacitors, solar evaporators, and sensors. We conclude with the achieved progress and a perspective of future directions in 3D printed graphene materials.