The preparation of graphene determines the future of industrialization.
Release time:
2019-05-22
In the past decade, research and industrialization of graphene have progressed rapidly; however, the industrialization of graphene still faces many challenges and issues. The preparation technology aimed at the industrial application of graphene is not a simple scaling up of laboratory processes. Large-scale preparation imposes higher requirements on the reproducibility and cost of the preparation technology. Although both graphene powder and films have achieved large-scale production in terms of capacity, the growth processes, raw materials, equipment, and even production batches of graphene products vary, resulting in inconsistent product quality and performance, making it difficult to meet unified standards. Looking back at history and referencing the industrial development of another strategic carbon material—carbon fiber—it is clear that the quality of materials determines their application prospects. The carbon fibers developed could only be used for fishing rods, but now carbon fiber materials occupy an irreplaceable position in aerospace. This is due to the continuous improvement of carbon fiber's large-scale preparation technology and material quality, which has driven the widespread application of carbon fiber in the field. The graphene industry must strive to root itself in material preparation and solve the problem of large-scale production of high-quality materials to have a bright application future. In the past decade, the research groups of Liu Zhongfan and Peng Hailin at Peking University have made a series of important advances in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) preparation and application of graphene. For the CVD preparation of high-quality graphene films, the research groups have developed various graphene CVD growth methods, controlling the domain size, number of layers, cleanliness, doping, and growth rate, and have successfully achieved the preparation of 4-inch wrinkle-free graphene single crystal wafers, large-area ultra-clean graphene films, continuous batch preparation of graphene films, and green non-destructive transfer, as well as the development of graphene glass and graphene-based LED devices. These innovative research results help to break through the technical bottlenecks in the preparation of high-quality graphene films and explore their application technologies, promoting the rational and sustainable development of graphene film materials and industry. The Liu Zhongfan and Peng Hailin research groups were invited to publish a review article titled "Graphene Industrialization - Preparation Determines the Future" in the international journal Nature Materials (Synthesis Challenges for Graphene Industry. Li Lin, Hailin Peng*, Zhongfan Liu*, Nature Materials 2019, 18, 520), which conducted an in-depth discussion and analysis of the current status and existing problems of graphene industrialization, and proposed the concept of "graded" graphene and possible "killer application" levels for graphene in the future. The article points out that the graphene market urgently needs standardization. The grading rules for graphene should involve its basic structure (domain size, number of layers, flatness, purity, doping level, etc.) and intrinsic properties (mobility, conductivity, transmittance, work function, thermal conductivity, etc.). The direction of efforts in material preparation and application exploration is the integration of materials. That is, the composite of graphene with other materials, utilizing the additional functions of graphene to achieve functional integration, which is also one of the pathways to graphene's "killer application" level. It has only been a little over a decade since the discovery of graphene, indicating that there is still much room for improvement and effort, and it tells us that the industrialization of graphene cannot be achieved overnight. Preparation determines the future; only by continuously improving graphene preparation can we welcome the dawn of the graphene industry. The corresponding authors of the above review article are Professor Liu Zhongfan and Professor Peng Hailin. This series of work has received strong support from the National Natural Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Technology research programs, and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission projects.
In the past decade, research and industrialization of graphene have progressed rapidly; however, the industrialization of graphene still faces many challenges and issues. The preparation technology for graphene industrial applications is not simply a scale-up of laboratory processes, as large-scale production imposes higher requirements on the reproducibility and cost of the preparation technology. Although both graphene powder and films have achieved large-scale production in terms of capacity, the growth processes, raw materials, equipment, and even production batches of graphene products vary, leading to inconsistent product quality and performance, making it difficult to meet unified standards. Looking back at history and referencing the industrial development of another strategic carbon material—carbon fiber—it is clear that the quality of materials determines their application prospects. Carbon fibers developed for fishing rods, for example, have now found an irreplaceable position in aerospace. This is due to the continuous improvement of carbon fiber's large-scale preparation technology and material quality, which has driven its widespread application in the field. The graphene industry must strive to root itself in material preparation and solve the problem of large-scale production of high-quality materials to have a bright application future.
In the past decade, the research groups of Liu Zhongfan and Peng Hailin at Peking University have made a series of important advances in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) preparation and application of graphene. For the CVD preparation of high-quality graphene films, the research groups have developed various graphene CVD growth methods, controlling parameters such as domain size, number of layers, cleanliness, doping, and growth rate. They were the first to achieve the preparation of 4-inch wrinkle-free graphene single crystal wafers, large-area ultra-clean graphene films, continuous batch production of graphene films, and green non-destructive transfer, as well as the development of graphene glass and graphene-based LED devices. These innovative research results help to break through the technical bottlenecks in the preparation of high-quality graphene films and explore their application technologies, promoting the rational and sustainable development of graphene film materials and industry. The Liu Zhongfan and Peng Hailin research groups were invited to publish a review article titled "Graphene Industrialization - Preparation Determines the Future" in the international journal Nature Materials, discussing the current status and existing problems of graphene industrialization, and proposing the concept of "graded" graphene and potential "killer application" levels for graphene in the future.
The article points out that the graphene market urgently needs standardization. The grading rules for graphene should involve its basic structure (domain size, number of layers, flatness, purity, doping level, etc.) and intrinsic properties (mobility, conductivity, transmittance, work function, thermal conductivity, etc.). The direction of efforts in material preparation and application exploration is the integration of materials. This means compounding graphene with other materials to utilize graphene's additional functions, achieving functional integration, which is also one of the pathways to graphene's "killer application" level. It has only been a little over a decade since the discovery of graphene, indicating that there is still much room for improvement and effort, and it tells us that the industrialization of graphene cannot be achieved overnight. Preparation determines the future; only by continuously improving graphene preparation can we welcome the dawn of the graphene industry.
The corresponding authors of the above review article are Professor Liu Zhongfan and Professor Peng Hailin. This series of work has received strong support from the National Natural Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Technology research programs, and projects from the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.
Key words:
Industrialization, graphite, preparation, materials, applications, films, carbon fibers, research group, realization
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