Current Research and Future Perspectives on Graphene Synthesis

Abstract

Although graphitic materials are considered indispensable across many industries, practitioners and researchers have shown that graphene is still in development and its industrial implementation in mass production may save many organizations millions of dollars a year. This paper presents a comprehensive and systematic literature review of graphene synthesis methods. In our research, we noticed an increasing trend in publications for research under diverse scenarios (e.g., engineering, entrepreneurship, academy, etc.), which limits the generalizing of the findings due to the nature of graphene’s synthesis. Most of these studies were conducted about electrical and mechanical properties for possible sector applications due to its structure. We found that less effort has been made to analyse the development and synthesis of methods that allow graphene manufacturing in industrial quantities. We classified the five most important synthesis methods of graphene, categorizing chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and adhesive tape exfoliation as the most implemented methods, with the latter getting better quality and greater quantity of graphene. We also identified needs for research on graphene that goes beyond its known properties, by focusing on models that encompass the innovation needed for manufacturers of materials in areas, such as electronics and energy.