STRATEGIES OF FABRICATING GRAPHENE AND GRAPHENE-ANALOGOUS 2D NANOSHEETS

Abstract

Due to the unique structures and properties of graphene and graphene-analogous two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets, such as MoS₂, C₃N₄, black phosphorus nanosheets, numerous methods were developed to prepare these 2D nanosheets, however, it is still a challenge to fabricate high quality 2D nanosheets cost-effectively on a large scale. This paper reviewed the recent progress of the strategies when fabricating graphene and graphene-analogous 2D nanosheets. These strategies were divided into five main categories based on the basic principles: physical exfoliation, chemical exfoliation, electrochemical exfoliation, chemical synthesis and chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The merits of each category were summarised and analysed, and the drawbacks were highlighted as well in detail. It provides an avenue to design and fabricate different kinds of high quality 2D nanosheets cost-effectively on a large scale for energy storage and conversion, catalysis, sensors, electronics, and so on.

Keywords

• Graphene
• Two-dimensional nanosheets
• Fabrication
• Exfoliation
• Strategy