Chemically converted graphene: scalable chemistries to enable processing and fabrication

Graphene, a nanocarbon with exceptional physical and electronic properties, has the potential to be utilized in a myriad of applications and devices. However, this will only be achieved if scalable, processable forms of graphene are developed along with ways to fabricate these forms into material structures and devices. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the chemistries suitable for the development of aqueous and organic solvent graphene dispersions and their use for the preparation of a variety of polymer composites, materials useful for the fabrication of graphene-containing structures and devices. Fabrication of the processable graphene dispersions or composites by printing (inkjet and extrusion) or spinning methods (wet) is reviewed. The preparation and fabrication of liquid crystalline graphene oxide dispersions whose unique rheologies allow the creation of graphene-containing structures by a wide range of industrially scalable fabrication techniques such as spinning (wet and dry), printing (ink-jet and extrusion) and coating (spray and electrospray) is also reviewed. Graphene synthesis: chemistries for producing graphene There now exists a wide range of scalable chemistries that potentially could be used to produce processable graphene. Graphene holds a lot of promise, but before it can be used commercially, methods are needed for producing processable forms of graphene in scalable amounts and also for incorporating graphene in devices. Gordon Wallace and co-workers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, University of Wollongong in Australia comprehensively review the various chemistries available for chemically converting graphite into graphene. In particular, they consider suitable chemistries for developing graphene dispersions in aqueous and organic solvents and their use for preparing various polymer composites, which can be used to fabricate graphene-based structures and devices. They discuss the differences between natural and synthetic graphite, the necessary steps for converting them into graphene and how graphene can be used to produce composites. The development of scalable chemistries for the production and processing of graphene is essential if its potential in structures and devices is to be realized. This review is a chemist’s perspective on the methods developed for the production of processable graphene and graphene precursors dispersion, their integration into polymers and fabrication into