Plasma-Synthesized Few-Layer Graphene—From Fundamentals to Applications

Substrate- and catalyst-free gas-phase microwave-plasma synthesis of freestanding few-layer graphene (FLG) flakes leads to crumpled FLG structures. Yet, the mechanism that produces such structures, as well as the role of some other synthesis parameters—e.g., C/O ratio and precursor—was unclear until recently. During this talk, an overview of the importance of these process parameters and the evolution of FLG morphology during synthesis will be presented. Moreover, a folding-based mechanism for FLG and a structure-formation process that explains the final crumpled structures obtained will be proposed. Lastly, some applications based on or enhanced by FLG will be discussed.