Nanocrystalline graphite/graphene (NCG) has been studied well before graphene was successfully produced in 2004. Despite the fact that NCG thin films cannot reach the high performance of large‐area graphene in some of its properties, they are able to provide significant benefits for various applications, besides being easier to produce and integrate into devices with current processing technologies. We present here, a comprehensive account of the large variety of synthesis methods, as well as of the already large range of potential applications for NCG thin films.

Rutile titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) thin films require more energy to crystallize than the anatase phase of TiO 2 . It is a prime candidate for micro-optoelectronics and is usually obtained either by high substrate temperature, applying a substrate bias, pulsed gas flow to modify the pressure, or ex situ annealing. In the present work, we managed to obtain high enough energy at the substrate in order for the particles to form rutile TiO 2 at room temperature without any intentional substrate bias in a continuous gas flow. The rutile TiO 2 thin films were deposited by a reactive radiofrequency magnetron sputtering system from a titanium target, in an argon/oxygen gas mixture. Investigations regarding the film's structure and morphology were performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray reflectivity (XRR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), while the optical properties were investigated by means of ellipsometry.

Bulk nanocrystalline graphite has been investigated as a possible candidate for piezoresistive sensors. The thin films were grown using capacitively coupled plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and a technological workflow for the transfer of the active material onto flexible substrates was established in order to use the material as a piezoresitive element. Preliminary electrical measurements under mechanical strain were performed in order to test the piezoresistive response of the material and promising GF values of 50 − 250 at 1% strain were obtained.