The geometry and chemistry of graphene nanostructures significantly affects their electronic properties. Despite a large number of experimental and theoretical studies dealing with the geometrical shape-dependent electronic properties of graphene nanostructures, experimental characterisation of their chemistry is clearly lacking. This is mostly due to the difficulties in preparing chemically-mo...

Porous structure of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) plays an important role in developing flexible graphene-based devices. In this work, we report a novel methodology for reduction of freestanding graphite oxide (GO) sheet by picosecond pulse laser direct writing in liquid nitrogen. Non-agglomerate and porous structure of rGO is fabricated successfully due to frozen effect during laser processing....

Porous graphene oxide can be used as a metal-free catalyst in the presence of air for oxidative coupling of primary amines. Herein, we explore a GO-catalyzed carbon-carbon or/and carbon-heteroatom bond formation strategy to functionalize primary amines in tandem to produce a series of valuable products, i.e., α-aminophosphonates, α-aminonitriles, and polycyclic heterocompounds. Furthermore, whe...

Individual ribbons of graphene show orientation-dependent electronic properties of great interest, yet to ensure their perfect geometry and integrity or to assemble free ribbons into a device remains a daunting task. Here we explore, using density functional theory, an alternative possibility of "nanoroads" of pristine graphene being carved in the electrically insulating matrix of fully hydroge...

Synthesis of mesoporous graphene materials by soft-template methods remains a great challenge, owing to the poor self-assembly capability of precursors and the severe agglomeration of graphene nanosheets. Herein, a micelle-template strategy to prepare porous graphene materials with controllable mesopores, high specific surface areas and large pore volumes is reported. By fine-tuning the synthes...

Successful synthesis of the stable metal-free two-dimensional polymer graphitic carbon-nitride with remarkable properties has made it as one of the most promising nanostructures in many novel nanodevices, especially photocatalytic ones. Understanding the mechanical properties of nanostructures is of crucial importance. Thus, this study employs density functional theory (DFT) to obtain the mecha...

The dynamic configuration of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) in an aqueous dispersion is revealed by several characterization methods, showing a spontaneous and seemingly irreversible configuration transition from flat to highly corrugated sheets over time. Such dynamic behaviour of rGO leads to a tailored porous structure of graphene-based thin films. This affects their permeation and electrochem...