Hybrids of Fullerenes and 2D Nanomaterials

Abstract

Fullerene has a definite 0D closed‐cage molecular structure composed of merely sp2‐hybridized carbon atoms, enabling it to serve as an important building block that is useful for constructing supramolecular assemblies and micro/nanofunctional materials. Conversely, graphene has a 2D layered structure, possessing an exceptionally large specific surface area and high carrier mobility. Likewise, other emerging graphene‐analogous 2D nanomaterials, such as graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C3N4), transition‐metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN), and black phosphorus (BP), show unique electronic, physical, and chemical properties, which, however, exist only in the form of a monolayer and are typically anisotropic, limiting their applications. Upon hybridization with fullerenes, noncovalently or covalently, the physical/chemical properties of 2D nanomaterials can be tailored and, in most cases, improved, significantly extending their functionalities and applications. Here, an exhaustive review of all types of hybrids of fullerenes and 2D nanomaterials, such as graphene, g‐C3N4, TMDs, h‐BN, and BP, including their preparations, structures, properties, and applications, is presented. Finally, the prospects of fullerene‐2D nanomaterial hybrids, especially the opportunity of creating unknown functional materials by means of hybridization, are envisioned.

Functionalized Hybridization of 2D Nanomaterials

“…[10,20,[22][23][24] Together with various integrations of 2D nanosheets with other nanostructures (0D or 1D), [20,[25][26][27][28][29] diversified hybridized 2D nanomaterials are also facilely fabricated by combining the same/different types of 2D nanosheets, which offer new strategies for band-structure engineering through simultaneous control of individual layers and their interfaces in the multilayered heterostructures to reduce the amount of charge displacement within each layers and increase the charge transfer between adjacent layers. [23,[26][27][28][29]34,35] For example, one of the pioneered groups contributed the earlier four reviews with more focus on epitaxial growth of metal, metal oxide and other nanostructures on TMD and graphene nanosheets, [34,35] while a few other groups contributed reviews with more emphasis on specific applications of different hybrids in energy storage, plasmonics, and electrochemical sensing. Among them, a number of reviews emphasize more on the progressive advances in the hybridized 2D nanomaterials.…”

“…[30][31][32] Since the first review on 2D nanomaterials in 2001, [33] 368 reviews have been published so far in this field, comprising of 325 reviews in the past five years to indicate the fast expansion in exploration and exploitation of diversified 2D nanomaterials. [23,[26][27][28] With more and more reports on the hybridized 2D nanomaterials in recent years, [29] it is time to review the rapid progress on the hybridization of various functional nanostructures on diversified 2D nanomaterials, especially the hybridization between/among 2D nanosheets that are not collectively reviewed previously. [23,[26][27][28][29]34,35] For example, one of the pioneered groups contributed the earlier four reviews with more focus on epitaxial growth of metal, metal oxide and other nanostructures on TMD and graphene nanosheets, [34,35] while a few other groups contributed reviews with more emphasis on specific applications of different hybrids in energy storage, plasmonics, and electrochemical sensing.…”

PffBT4T-2OD Based Solar Cells with Aryl-Substituted N-Methyl-Fulleropyrrolidine Acceptors

“…Fullerene derivatives display a wide range of physical and chemical properties that make them attractive for the preparation of supramolecular assemblies and for organic photovoltaics [27][28][29]. For instance, attaching the proper organic addends on fullerenes, it is possible to tune their solubility, energy levels, molecular interactions, surface energy, orientation in the solid-state as well as electron mobility [5,30].…”

Noble metal-free two dimensional carbon-based electrocatalysts for water splitting

“…Among them, 2D nanocarbons possess unique layered structure, unusual physical, chemical and electronic characteristics, as well as highly exposed active site, which make them attractive candidates for electrocatalytic applications [31]. For example, 2D graphene offers a remarkable mechanical strength, exceptionally higher carrier mobility of ~ 15,000 cm 2 V −1 s −1 at room temperature, and better optical transparency of ~ 97.7% than 0D fullerene [35]. In addition, 2D graphene has extremely good electrical conductivity of 64 mS cm −1 and excellent thermal conductivity of 5000 W m −1 K −1 as compared to 1D single walled CNTs (~ 1.06 mS cm −1 and ~ 3000 W m −1 K −1 , respectively) [27,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42].…”