The exotic physical properties of graphene have led to intense research activities on the synthesis and characterization of graphene composites during the last decade. In this article the methods developed for preparation of such materials and the different application areas are reviewed. The composites discussed are of two types, viz; graphene/polymer and inorganic/ graphene. The techniques of ex-situ hybridization and in-situ hybridization have been pointed out. Some of the application areas are batteries and ultracapacitor for energy storage and fuel cell and solar cell for energy generation and some of the possible future directions of research have been discussed.
The interest in two-dimensional and layered materials continues to expand, driven by the compelling properties of individual atomic layers that can be stacked and/or twisted into synthetic heterostructures. The plethora of electronic properties as well as the emergence of many different quasiparticles, including plasmons, polaritons, trions and excitons with large, tunable binding energies that all can be controlled and modulated through electrical means has given rise to many device applications. In addition, these materials exhibit both room-temperature spin and valley polarization, magnetism, superconductivity, piezoelectricity that are intricately dependent on the composition, crystal structure, stacking, twist angle, layer number and phases of these materials. Initial results on graphene exfoliated from single bulk crystals motivated the development of wide-area, high purity synthesis and heterojunctions with atomically clean interfaces. Now by opening this design space to new synthetic two-dimensional materials beyond graphene, it is possible to explore uncharted opportunities in designing novel heterostructures for electrical tunable devices. To fully reveal the emerging functionalities and opportunities of these atomically thin materials in practical applications, this review highlights several representative and noteworthy research directions in the use of electrical means to tune these aforementioned physical and structural properties, with an emphasis on discussing major applications of beyond graphene 2D materials in tunable devices in the past few years and an outlook of what is to come in the next decade.
Graphene/(Poly)vinyl alcohol (PVA) composite film with thickness $60 mu m$ were synthesized by solidification of a PVA solution comprising of dispersed graphene nanosheets. The close proximity of the graphene sheets enables the fluctuation induced tunneling of electrons to occur from one sheet to another. The dielectric data show that the present system can be simulated to a parallel resistance-capacitor network. The high frequency exponent of the frequency variation of the ac conductivity indicates that the charge carriers move in a two-dimensional space. The sample preparation technique will be helpful for synthesizing flexible conductors.
Soft materials with a liquid component are an emerging paradigm in materials design. The incorporation of a liquid phase, such as water, liquid metals, or complex fluids, into solid materials imparts unique properties and characteristics that emerge as a result of the dramatically different properties of the liquid and solid. Especially in recent years, this has led to the development and study of a range of novel materials with new functional responses, with applications in topics including soft electronics, soft robotics, 3D printing, wet granular systems and even in cell biology. Here we provide a review of solid-liquid composites, broadly defined as a material system with at least one, phase-separated liquid component, and discuss their morphology and fabrication approaches, their emergent mechanical properties and functional response, and the broad range of their applications.
Graphene and other two-dimensional materials display remarkable optical properties, including a simple light transparency of $T approx 1 - pi alpha$ for light in the visible region. Most theoretical rationalizations of this universal opacity employ a model coupling light to the electrons crystal momentum and put emphasis on the linear dispersion of the graphene bands. However, such a formulation of interband absorption is not allowable within band structure theory, because it conflates the crystal momentum label with the canonical momentum operator. We show that the physical origin of the optical behavior of graphene can be explained within a straightforward picture with the correct use of canonical momentum coupling. Its essence lies in the two-dimensional character of the density of states rather than in the precise dispersion relation, and therefore the discussion is applicable to other systems such as semiconductor membranes. At higher energies the calculation predicts a peak corresponding to a van Hove singularity as well as a specific asymmetry in the absorption spectrum of graphene, in agreement with previous results.
Since the discovery of graphene -a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice - it was clear that this truly is a unique material system with an unprecedented combination of physical properties. Graphene is the thinnest membrane present in nature -just one atom thick- it is the strongest material, it is transparent and it is a very good conductor with room temperature charge mobilities larger than the typical mobilities found in silicon. The significance played by this new material system is even more apparent when considering that graphene is the thinnest member of a larger family: the few-layer graphene materials. Even though several physical properties are shared between graphene and its few-layers, recent theoretical and experimental advances demonstrate that each specific thickness of few-layer graphene is a material with unique physical properties.