No abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) graphene has attracted increasing attention in electrochemical devices. However, the existing preparation technologies usually involve a solvent process, which introduces defects and functional groups into the 3D network. Here, we find the defects and functional groups influence the electrochemical stability of graphene. After an electrochemical process, the current decreases by more than 1 order of magnitude, indicating remarkable etching of graphene. To improve the electrochemical stability, we develop a solvent-free preparation process to produce 3D graphene for the first time. After growth on a 3D microporous copper by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the copper template is removed by a high temperature evaporation process, resulting in 3D graphene network without any solvent process involved. The samples exhibit remarkably improved stability with durable time 2 times, compared with normal CVD samples, and 55 times, compared with reduced graphite oxide, and no obvious etching is observed at 1.6 V versus saturated calomel electrode, showing great potential for application in future 3D graphene-based high stable electrochemical devices.

Graphene has attracted tremendous research interest owing to its widespread potential applications. However, these applications are partially hampered by the lack of a general method to produce high-quality graphene at low cost. Here, to the best of our knowledge, we use low-cost solid carbon allotropes as the precursor in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) for the first time, and find that the hydrogen plasma and reaction temperature play a crucial role in the process. Hydrogen plasma etches carbon black, and produces graphene crystals in a high-temperature zone. Based on this finding, a modified PECVD technology is developed, which produces transparent conductive nanographene films directly on various substrates at a temperature as low as 600 °C. For application, the closely packed structure of the nanographene film enables a remarkable temperature-dependent behavior of the resistance with a ratio higher than that previously reported, indicating its great potential for usage in highly sensitive temperature detectors.