Size‐Controlled Nanosculpture of Cylindrical Pores across Multilayer Graphene via Photocatalytic Perforation

Abstract

The microstructure morphology and physicochemical properties of NPG materials have been exploited in sieving, sensing, energy harvesting, and catalysis applications. [5][6][7][8] The morphological properties of NPG materials in terms of sizes, densities distributions, and depths, as well as geometrical shapes ranging across single-, or few-layer graphene sheets, have solely relied on the applied perforation methodologies. [4] The state-of-art of perforation technology for 2D nanoporous nanostructures can be classified into either stochastic/guided-etching or guidedgrowth techniques based on the achieved pore-size and surface-pore distribution ranges. [4,9] Cylindrical pores with narrow size distribution and high-density surface distributions are still desired for engineering porous graphene-derived nanoassemblies. The capability to induce such architectural features across graphene will therefore enhance their potential in a variety of nanotechnologies based on separation and catalytic processes. [9] One promising perforation methodology is photocatalytic perforation, a particulate-assisted etching protocol. The proof of concept was demonstrated via arranging nanocatalysts over graphene surfaces to accelerate the oxidation upon the photo-irradiation process with ultraviolet (UV)-visible stimuli. Consequently, the achieved One of the bottlenecks in realizing the potential of nanoporous graphene assemblies is the difficulty of engineering narrow pores and high surface density distributions, with a nanometer resolution across multilayer graphene assemblies using scalable approaches. Here, the authors develop a photocatalyzed perforation protocol to incorporate nanopores across modified graphene assemblies via localizing the oxidation during the photoexcitation process between photo-initiators and graphitic assemblies under the ultraviolet-visible stimuli. Nanopores are engineered across the graphene nanostructures with a pore size range varying from 20 to 100 nm depending on the irradiation duration, as well as tunable densities of 10 1 -10 3 pores/µm 2 on the same order of the loaded nanocatalysts to the graphene surfaces. By finetuning the graphene chemistry and the physical dimension of photo-initiators, as well as their concentrations across graphitic planes used during the perforation, the diameter, and the density distributions of generated nanopores across graphene, can be rationally confined, avoiding merging between pores during the nanopore formation. These porosity parameters engineered across graphene nanosieves are in the same order obtained by other nanolithographic techniques. Plus, this sustainable route may boost the potential of porous graphene assemblies in energy-efficient nanotechnologies based on separation and catalytic processes.

Boosting Plant Photosynthesis with Carbon Dots: A Critical Review of Performance and Prospects

“…The synthesis technologies may tune the structural crystallinity of such nanomaterials along with their physicochemical and electronic properties. [ 70,82,136,145 ]…”

“…The synthesis technologies may tune the structural crystallinity of such nanomaterials along with their physicochemical and electronic properties. [70,82,136,145] Although most of the presented CDs here can be utilized as photosensitizers due to their fluorescence emission during either down, or up conversion, the plasmon-induced hot electrons across the pristine-, or doped carbon dots nanostructure have not been considered in the solar-light-driven chemical mechanisms. [146] Molybdenum oxides (M-O), for instance, are 2D nanosheets.…”

“…[80,81] Hence, theoretical models are required to establish the optimum crystallinity and density/type of defects of CDs for optimal photo-conversion performance. [50,70,82] The uniformity of the yield material is considered another issue during the extraction process. Therefore, further advances in the purification processes such as dialysis, [71] gel chromatography, [83] and ultracentrifugation [84] for extracting CDs with uniform characteristics, are highly recommended.…”

A review of boron nitride-based photocatalysts for carbon dioxide reduction

“…[65][66][67] Over one thousand 2D-layered structures are projected to be exfoliated to monolayer or many layered materials, amassing a valuable library of 2D materials. Generally, the classication of 2D materials can be made according to their compositions, including graphene, [68][69][70] layered h-BN, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), 71 black phosphorus (BP), 72 transition metal nitrides/carbides (MXenes), [73][74][75] metal oxides, 76 graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ), 77,78 and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). 60,61,[79][80][81][82] It is also worth noting that the family of 2D nanomaterials encompasses approximately all the elements in the periodic table of the elements.…”

Mesoporous silica nanoparticle-induced drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana grown under in vitro conditions

“…To confirm the size and porosity of the MSNs used here, we examined, via dynamic light scattering (DLS) on a Malvern Nano Z NANOSIZER, the hydrodynamic diameters and the zeta potential values of the suspended nanoparticles in water (Wang et al 2022a(Wang et al , 2022b. The porosity across the MSNs' nanostructure and the associated intercalated water molecule retention were evaluated via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) (Guirguis et al 2022a(Guirguis et al , 2022b.…”