Abstract
Graphene has unique physical properties, and a variety of proof-of-concept devices based on graphene have been demonstated. A prerequisite for the application of graphene is its production in a controlled manner because the number of graphene layers and the defects in these layers significantly influence transport properties. In this paper, we briefly review our recent work on the controlled synthesis of graphene and graphene-based composites, the development of methods to characterize graphene layers, and the use of graphene in clean energy applications and for rapid DNA sequencing. For example, we have used Auger electron spectroscopy to characterize the number and structure of graphene layers, produced single-layer graphene over a whole Ni film substrate, synthesized well-dispersed reduced graphene oxide that was uniformly grafted with unique gold nanodots, and fabricated graphene nanoscrolls. We have also explored applications of graphene in organic solar cells and direct, ultrafast DNA sequencing. Finally, we address the challenges that graphene still face in its synthesis and clean energy and biological sensing applications.
Highlights
Graphene, clean energy, chemical and biological sensors, synthesis, chemical vapor deposition, surface segregation, organic solar cells, DNA sequencing
We briefly review our recent work on the controlled synthesis of graphene and graphene-based composites, the development of methods to characterize graphene layers, and the use of graphene in clean energy applications and for rapid DNA sequencing
We have used Auger electron spectroscopy to characterize the number and structure of graphene layers, produced single-layer graphene over a whole Ni film substrate, synthesized well-dispersed reduced graphene oxide that was uniformly grafted with unique gold nanodots, and fabricated graphene nanoscrolls
Summary
In contrast to GO and rGO synthesized by solution-based oxidation and reduction, graphene layers synthesized by dry methods such as CVD and surface segregation have superior electron transport characteristics and features derived from these transport properties [1,9]. Among the substrates used in the synthesis of graphene, Ni(111) surfaces are one of the best templates because of the small lattice mismatch of this surface with that of graphene and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) [48] This makes Ni(111) one of the most promising catalytic metals for commensurate epitaxial growth of structurally homogeneous graphene. The large solubility of carbon in Ni makes it difficult to obtain graphene layers with uniform thickness over the whole substrate To solve this problem and realize commensurate epitaxial growth of graphene on metal templates, we recently developed a simple method to produce SLG on a Ni film substrate [38] via surface segregation [49,50,51]. All of the results suggested that the graphene layer synthesized on the whole Ni film was SLG (Figure 1)
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