Abstract
The Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) of graphene-related materials (GRMs) is an attractive strategy for a wide range of applications. This review paper provides an overview of the fundamentals and specific technical aspects of this approach, highlighting its advantages and limitations, in particular considering the issues that arise specifically from the behaviour and dimensionality of GRMs. Since obtaining a stable dispersion of charged particles is a pre-requisite for successful EPD, the strategies for suspending GRMs in different media are discussed, along with the resulting influence on the deposited film. Most importantly, the kinetics involved in the EPD of GRMs and the factors that cause deviation from linearity in Hamaker's Law are reviewed. Side reactions often influence both the efficiency of deposition and the nature of the deposited material; examples include the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and related materials, as well as the decomposition of the suspension medium at high potentials. The microstructural characteristics of GRM deposits, including their degree of reduction and orientation, strongly influence their performance in their intended function. These factors will also determine, to a large extent, the commercial potential of this technique for applications involving GRMs, and are therefore discussed here.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 83-117 |
| Number of pages | 35 |
| Journal | Progress in Materials Science |
| Volume | 82 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the EPSRC (United Kingdom), through EP/K01658X/1 and EP/K016792/1 , and A*STAR Graduate Academy (Singapore). Appendix A Supplementary data 1 Mani Diba received a B.Sc. degree (2010) in Materials Engineering from Isfahan University of Technology (Iran) and a M.Sc. (Hons.) degree (2012) in Advanced Materials and Processes from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). He performed his M.Sc. thesis at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Imperial College London focusing on the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of nanomaterials. Since 2013, he has been pursuing his PhD degree in the Department of Biomaterials at Radboud University Medical Centre (The Netherlands). During his PhD studies, he has been a visiting researcher at Harvard University and Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. His current research focuses on reversible assembly of nanoparticles. Derrick Fam received his PhD in 2012 from Nanyang Technological University (NTU, Singapore) during which he worked on transistors based on carbon nanotubes and graphene, and various different deposition techniques like Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) and Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD, in collaboration with Georgia Institute of Technology). Following which, he was a research fellow working with NTU and Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI, Israel). He is currently a postdoctoral fellow from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A ∗ STAR, Singapore) in Imperial College London. His research focus is on the fundamentals and electronic applications of carbon nanomaterials including charge storage and semiconducting devices. Aldo R. Boccaccini is a Professor of Biomaterials and Head of the Institute of Biomaterials at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Previously, he was a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Imperial College, London, where he is currently a Visiting Professor. His research activities are in the broad area of glasses, ceramics, composites and porous materials for biomedical, functional, and/or structural applications. He has developed the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique for production of nanostructured materials, composites, and functional coatings. Milo Shaffer is a Professor of Materials Chemistry at Imperial College, London, and Co-director of the London Centre for Nanotechnology. He has extensive experience in carbon and inorganic nanomaterials synthesis, modification, characterization, and application. He has developed and studied a wide variety of nanocomposite systems, including both structural matrices and conducting polymers for electrochemical and photovoltaic applications.
Keywords
- Electrophoretic deposition
- Graphene
- Graphene oxide
- Graphene related materials