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Hematene and magnetene nanoplatelets have been produced by liquid phase exfoliation of natural mineral ores, in a water solution of melamine under mild sonication.

The interest in the research for transparent conductive materials has intensified the last years due to the fascinating optical and electrical properties of graphene and its derivatives. Several efforts have shown that the substitution of indium doped tin oxide with graphene derivatives or hybrids will be possible in the near future. However, up to now, a simple and effective method to prepare competitive transparent conductive films (TCFs) based on graphene has not yet been established. In this article, we present a new procedure, which combines simple, economic and scalable steps to provide TCFs with high quality, uniformity, and stability. Our method is based on the deposition by drop casting, of a mixture of graphene oxide (GO) with polyvinyl alcohol on a glass substrate, the reduction of GO with vapors of triethylenetetramine and the doping with nitric acid. The achieved conductivity of the as prepared TCFs is comparable with those of others from the literature, however, our method has the advantages of the simplicity, low cost and scalability, and stability.

A green approach for the functionalization of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with hydrophilic groups and their use for the development of an ecofriendly conductive ink are described here. A known organic functionalization of MWNTs, 1,3 dipolar cycloaddition of catechol substituted azomethine ylide, is performed here for the first time, in the solid phase. The functionalized MWNTs were then mixed with graphene nanosheets in ethanol to produce a hydrophilic and highly conductive all-carbon hybrid. The end product was finally mixed with resin to produce a water based conductive ink. In the total procedure, a solid state reaction and non-toxic and eco-friendly solvents like water or alcohols have been used to produce a totally green conductive ink for industrial printing techniques like flexography or gravure printing.

The dual use of potassium superoxide (KO2) to unzip multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and cut graphene under hydrothermal conditions is described in this work. The KO2-assisted hydrothermal treatment was proven to be a high-yield method for forming graphene nanoribbons and dots or sub-micro-sized graphene nanosheets. Starting with functionalized MWCNTs, the method produces water-dispersible graphene nanoribbons with characteristic photoluminescence depending on their width. Using pristine graphene, the hydrothermal treatment with KO2 produces nanosized graphene sheets and graphene quantum dots with diameters of less than 10 nm. The latter showed a bright white photoluminescence. The effective hydrothermal unzipping of MWNTs and the cutting of large graphene nanosheets is a valuable top-down approach for the preparation of graphene nanoribbons and small nanographenes. Both products with limited dimensions have interesting applications in nanoelectronics and bionanotechnology.

In this work, we describe a simple and general procedure for the purification of carbon dots. Following a hydrothermal heating procedure, the reaction mixture usually contains unreacted starting material and by-products alongside the carbon dots, which often appear among otherwise intense photoluminescence. The proposed purification method is based on a solid phase extraction technique, where the reaction mixture is absorbed on porous alumina and the carbon dots are isolated from the by-products and unreacted organics using proper solvents, and are finally recovered from the alumina using a simple extraction.

The covalent functionalization of graphene enabling to overcome its hydrophobicity and still keeping a high conductivity is a challenging task, particularly for advanced biosensing applications. We present a facile strategy towards water dispersible nanocarbon with excellent conductive and sensing properties. Graphene–fullerol (GFL) covalent hybrid is prepared by impregnation of chemically exfoliated graphene sheets with fullerol clusters followed by thermal treatment. The partial dehydroxylation of fullerol during heating is necessary for exposing the fullerene skeleton to graphene and promoting their covalent bonding. The remaining hydroxyl and ionic groups equip the final product with good dispersibility in water (0.04 mg mL−1). Simultaneously, the GFL hybrid retains a high electrical conductivity of 0.8 × 105 S m−1, which is comparable to that of unmodified graphene. The conductive and hydroxyl-bearing derivative was successfully applied for electrochemical sensing of dopamine, hydroquinone (HQ), and catechol (C) using cyclic voltammetry. GFL modified electrodes exhibited simultaneous HQ and C detection at lower potentials compared to other nanosensors.

The preparation and characterization of highly conductive carbon inks is described based on nanocomposites that combine a polystyrene-acrylic resin or water-soluble polymers with a hydrophilic graphene/carbon nanotube hybrid. The water-based carbon inks showed high electrical conductivity and could be effectively used in advanced technologies such as gravure printing for printed electronics. Moreover, the conductivity was shown to be increased with a power law of the nanohybrid volume fraction, with an exponent close to that predicted from the percolation theory, indicating a limited impact of the polymer tunneling barrier on the electrical conductivity of such nanocomposites.

In this work, we demonstrate a significant improvement in the electrical conductivity of carbon nanostructured thin films, composed of graphene nanosheets and multiwalled carbon nanotubes, by compression/polishing. It is shown that the sheet resistance of compressed thin films of carbon nanostructures and hybrids is remarkably decreased in comparison with that of as-deposited films. The number of the interconnections, the distance between the nanostructures as well as their orientation are highly altered by the compression favoring the electrical conductivity of the compressed samples.