Properties of Graphene

Graphene and its derivatives possess outstanding optical, electrical, electronics, thermal and mechanical properties owing to its unique structural motif, even at only a thickness of one atom, which are depicted in the subsequent sections. 

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While electron microscopy is an invaluable tool for characterization of graphene, it is a costly and often time-consuming technique. In contrast, Raman spectroscopy is a quick and easy method to obtain a wide range of properties of graphene, including flake size, layer number, defect density, and doping levels amongst others [118]. 

A.C. Ferrari, D.M. Basko, Raman spectroscopy as a versatile tool for studying the properties of graphene, Nature Nanotechnology. 8 (2013) 235-246. 

B. Mortazavi, S. Ahzi,V. Toniazzo.Y. Remond, Nitrogen doping and vacancy effects on the mechanical properties of graphene A molecular dynamics study., Physics Letters A, vol. 376, pp. 1146-1153, 2012. 

J. W. Kang, H. J. Hwang, K. S. Kim, Molecular dynamics study on vibrational properties of graphene nanoribbon resonator under tensile loading., Computational Materials Science, vol. 65, pp. 216-220, 2012. 

S. K. Georgantzinos, G. I. Giannopoulos, D. E. Katsareas, P. A. Kakavas, N. K. Anifantis, Size-dependent non-linear mechanical properties of graphene nanoribbons., Computational Materials Science, vol. 50, pp. 2057-2062, 2011. 

The activity of elemental carbon as a metal-free catalyst is well established for a couple of reactions, however, most literature still deals with the support properties of this material. The discovery of nanostructured carbons in most cases led to an increased performance for the abovementioned reasons, thus these systems attracted remarkable research interest within the last years. The most prominent reaction is the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethylbenzene and other hydrocarbons in the gas phase, which will be introduced in a separate chapter. The conversion of alcohols as well as the catalytic properties of graphene oxide for liquid phase selective oxidations will also be discussed in more detail. The third section reviews individually reported catalytic effects of nanocarbons in organic reactions, as well as selected inorganic reactions. 

Many of the interesting properties of graphene have been measured on single layer samples however, the use of bi-layer and multi layers (three to ten layers) have been considered in order to access those properties in adequate material... 

Castro Neto AH, Guinea F, Peres NMR et al (2009) The electronic properties of graphene. Rev Mod Phys 81 109-162... 

Matte HSSR, Subrahmanyam KS, Rao CNR (2009) Novel magnetic properties of graphene presence of both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic features and other aspects. J Phys ChemC 113 9982-9985... 

Charlier J-C, Eklund PC, Zhu J, Ferrari AC (2008) Electron and phonon properties of graphene their relationship with carbon nanotubes. In Jorio A, Dresselhaus G, DresseUiaus MS (eds) Carbon nanotubes, vol 111, Topics in applied physics. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 673-709... 

Johari P, Shenoy VB (2011) Modulating optical properties of graphene oxide role of prominent functional groups. ACS Nano 5 7640-7647... 

The effect of the interface on the electronic properties of graphene on SiC can be overcome by hydrogen intercalation, which effectively decouples the graphene from the SiC. It has been shown that molecular hydrogen can migrate under the buffer layer and saturate the surface Si bonds by forming... 

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