Graphene and Its Derivatives: Various Routes of Synthesis

Abstract

Graphene and its derivatives have attracted significant attention among the scientific community due to their exceptional properties, such as their large surface area, zero band gap, high electrical conductivity, excellent mechanical stability, high optical transmission, and high thermal conductivity, which sparks intensive interests in various fields. Graphene is the first 2-dimensional atomic allotrope of carbon which consists of a single layer of sp2-bonded carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice structure. Over the past decades, graphene technologies and its derivatives have experienced rapid development, which now encompasses a large family group that includes reduced graphene oxide, graphene oxide, vertical graphene, graphene sponge, graphene foam, and various 3D-graphene architectures. Although a large number of researchers have been despite the extensive studies on graphene and its derivatives, only limited comprehensive research is available on the various routes of synthesis of graphene and its derivatives. In this chapter, we are addressing the knowledge gap by exploring and discussing brief history of graphene, the general introduction of graphene derivatives, i.e., graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), graphene quantum dots (GQDs), few layer graphene (f-LG) and various routes of synthesis of graphene and its derivatives. It also supported in detail the various routes of synthesis of graphene and its derivatives, namely top-down and bottom-up approaches: including electrochemical exfoliation, mechanical exfoliation, plasma synthesis, epitaxial growth on silicon carbide, chemical vapour deposition (CVD), arc discharge and some other synthesis techniques. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.