Catalyst‐Free Efficient Growth, Orientation and Biosensing Properties of Multilayer Graphene Nanoflake Films with Sharp Edge Planes

Abstract

We report a novel microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition strategy for the efficient synthesis of multilayer graphene nanoflake films (MGNFs) on Si substrates. The constituent graphene nanoflakes have a highly graphitized knife‐edge structure with a 2–3 nm thick sharp edge and show a preferred vertical orientation with respect to the Si substrate as established by near‐edge X‐ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The growth rate is approximately 1.6 µm min−1, which is 10 times faster than the previously reported best value. The MGNFs are shown to demonstrate fast electron‐transfer (ET) kinetics for the Fe(CN)63−/4− redox system and excellent electrocatalytic activity for simultaneously determining dopamine (DA), ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA). Their biosensing DA performance in the presence of common interfering agents AA and UA is superior to other bare solid‐state electrodes and is comparable only to that of edge plane pyrolytic graphite. Our work here, establishes that the abundance of graphitic edge planes/defects are essentially responsible for the fast ET kinetics, active electrocatalytic and biosensing properties. This novel edge‐plane‐based electrochemical platform with the high surface area and electrocatalytic activity offers great promise for creating a revolutionary new class of nanostructured electrodes for biosensing, biofuel cells and energy‐conversion applications.

Functionalized graphene foam as electrode for improved electrochemical storage

“…For example, non-covalent molecular functionalization has been used to dope single layer graphene and to induce band-gap in bilayer graphene [32,33], for surface transfer doping of diamond (100) with tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane [34], for reduction of sheet resistance in organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) [35], to improve the selectivity and sensitivity of molecular biosensors [36,37] and for electrochemical storage applications [38,39]. Therefore, a step towards developing high performance electrode material for electrochemical capacitors based on functionalized graphene sheet is highly desirable.…”

Recent Nanoarchitectures in Metal Nanoparticle-Graphene Nanocomposite Modified Electrodes for Electroanalysis

“…[2][3][4][5] As for the combination with MNPs, the diversity of preparation methods from GO in solutions might be regarded as a practical driving force for promoting the development of MNP-RGO modified electrodes. While in earlier works, preparation of graphene-modified electrodes was performed via the chemical vapor deposition of multilayer graphene nanoflake films, 74 nowadays, wet chemical methods can contribute significantly to the development of MNP-RGO modified electrodes.…”

Signal enhancement in amperometric peroxide detection by using graphene materials with low number of defects

“…These materials incorporate oxygen containing groups which strongly influences the electrochemical properties. Graphene derived from other methods like chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [10,11] also contains structural defects or impurities generated by its transfer from a metallic support to an insulating substrate. Many other methods have been developed so far which allow the preparation of graphene of various sizes, shapes and quality [12].…”