2D-Crystal-Based Functional Inks.
The possibility to produce and process graphene, related 2D crystals, and heterostructures in the liquid phase makes them promising materials for an ever-growing class of applications as composite materials, sensors, in flexible optoelectronics, and energy storage and conversion. In particular, the ability to formulate functional inks with on-demand rheological and morphological properties, i.e., lateral size and thickness of the dispersed 2D crystals, is a step forward toward the development of industrial-scale, reliable, inexpensive printing/coating processes, a boost for the full exploitation of such nanomaterials. Here, the exfoliation strategies of graphite and other layered crystals are reviewed, along with the advances in the sorting of lateral size and thickness of the exfoliated sheets together with the formulation of functional inks and the current development of printing/coating processes of interest for the realization of 2D-crystal-based devices.
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Graphene Labs, Via Morego 30, Genova, 16163, Italy.
Francesco
F
Bonaccorso
CNR-IPCF, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, Via F. Stagno D'Alcontres 37, Messina, 98158, Italy.
Antonino
A
Bartolotta
School of Physics and CRANN, Trinity College Dublin, Pearse St, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Jonathan N
JN
Coleman
Applied Physical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 253, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.
Claudia
C
Backes
2D crystals; flexible optoelectronics; liquid-phase exfoliation; printing; solution processing