Imperial College London, in collaboration with Brown University, has published a paper in Nature Chemistry on the large-scale solution phase processing of graphene-related materials

The graphene group at Imperial College London, in collaboration with Brown University, has recently publish a paper in Nature Chemistry expanding their deep understanding of the large-scale solution phase processing of graphene-related materials. Integration of graphene into practical electronic devices necessitates large-scale fabrication of high quality thin films, but the established procedures (such as mechanical exfoliation or chemical vapour deposition) are not applicable for the manufacture of processable graphene sheets. Reduction of graphene oxide, a material that retains the same hexagonal structure as graphene but contains oxygen functional groups, is an attractive route towards the preparation of graphene. However, a complete removal of residual oxygen is challenging. Now, molecular dynamics simulations elucidate the evolution of the atomic structure of progressively reduced graphene oxide. The work will ultimately help to develop solution-based routes to graphene films with improved electronic properties, and hence higher performance devices.

Ref: A. Bagri*, C. Mattevi*, M. Acik, Y. Chabal, M. Chhowalla, V. B. Shenoy, “Structural evolution during the reduction of chemically derived graphene oxide” Nature Chemistry, 2, 581- 587(2010).

*These authors contributed equally to this work.