Page 135 - Polymer-based Nanocomposites for Energy and Environmental Applications

110 Polymer-based Nanocomposites for Energy and Environmental Applications

Fig. 4.7 Pathway of graphite to graphene [24].

Fig. 4.8 Synthetic approaches for graphene [20].

or photoirradiation treatments [25] to facilitate the removal of the oxygen function-
alities on graphite/GO. Different reduction methods result to graphene of erratic
performances in terms of electronic, structural, surface morphological, and physical
properties [24,26]. Oxidative unzipping of CNTs also yields graphene nanoribbons
(GNs). Reaction with molecular hydrogen also converts CNTs into GNs. Fig. 4.8
summarizes some of the significant synthetic approaches for graphene [20].
Researchers stated that properties of graphene such as lateral size (from several
nanometers to centimeters), stacked layer, surface chemistry, solubility, electric,
morphology, structure, thermal conductivities, and defect and impurity contents
strongly rely on the applied synthetic method [21].