Synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene from ployacrylonitrile

Abstract

Doping graphene with nitrogen (N) could effectively tailor its electronic properties as well as the chemical reactivity for advanced device applications. Herein, we developed a novel and facile method for direct synthesis of N-doped graphene (NG) sheets via a thermal conversion of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) thin film. The newly-produced NG sheets in large area are uniform and predominantly single layer (>90%) with a nitrogen/carbon atomic ratio of ca. 2.7%. The sheets could be transferred to arbitrary substrates without using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as the supporting layer.