From the distribution of graphene applications, the hot topics in its application technology research layout include: graphene used as electrode material for lithium-ion batteries, electrode material for solar cells, preparation of thin film transistors, sensors, semiconductor devices, preparation of composite materials, transparent display touch screens, transparent electrodes, etc. Mainly focused on the following four areas: OFweek lithium power grid - China's lithium battery industry portal.
Interpretation of the Four Major Application Fields of Graphene
Graphene, also known as single-layer ink, is a new type of two-dimensional nanomaterial that has been discovered to have high hardness and strong toughness. Due to its unique nanostructure and excellent physical and chemical properties, graphene has broad application prospects in fields such as electronics, optics, magnetism, biomedicine, catalysis, energy storage, and sensors, and is widely recognized as the "future material" and "revolutionary material" of the 21st century. Graphene related materials began to show explosive growth (353 cases in 2010 and 1829 cases in 2012). Overall, graphene technology has entered a period of rapid growth and is rapidly transitioning towards technological maturity. The competition for global graphene technology research and development layout is becoming increasingly fierce, and the technological advantages of various countries are gradually forming. Graphene appeared in the laboratory in 2004, when Andre, two scientists at the University of Manchester, UK; Jem and Kostya; Novoselov discovered that they could obtain increasingly thin graphite flakes in a very simple way. They peel off graphite sheets from the graphite and then stick both sides of the sheets onto a special tape. By tearing off the tape, the graphite sheets can be split in half. By continuously operating in this way, the thin sheet became thinner and thinner, and later they obtained a thin sheet composed only of one layer of carbon atoms, which is graphene. Afterwards, new methods for preparing graphene emerged one after another. After 5 years of development, it was found that bringing graphene into the field of industrial production was not far away. Therefore, the two were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010.
Application fields of graphene
A recent report released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out that the research and industrialization development of graphene continues to heat up. From the distribution of graphene in the field, the hotspots of its application technology research layout include: graphene as an electrode material for lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, thin film crystal tube preparation, sensors, semiconductor devices, composite material preparation, transparent display touch screens, transparent electrodes, etc.
Mainly focused on the following four areas:
（1） Sensor field.
Graphene has a wide range of applications in sensors due to its unique two-dimensional structure. It has the characteristics of small volume, large surface area, high sensitivity, fast response time, fast electron transfer, easy fixation of proteins and maintenance of their activity, which can improve the performance of sensors. Mainly used for the production of gas, biomolecule, enzyme, and DNA electrochemical sensors. Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has developed a graphene light sensor with a sensitivity 1000 times higher than ordinary sensors; Rensselaer Institute of Technology in the United States has developed a low-cost graphene sponge sensor with performance far exceeding existing commercial gas sensors.
（2） Energy storage and new display fields.
Graphene has excellent electrical conductivity and transparency, and as a transparent conductive electrode material, it has great applications in touch screens, liquid crystal displays, energy storage batteries, and other fields. Graphene is considered a material with great potential to replace indium tin oxide in touch screen manufacturing, and companies such as Samsung, Sony, Hui Rui, 3M, Toray, Toshiba, etc. have made key research and development layouts in this field. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin used KOH to chemically modify graphene and reconstruct it into a porous structure, resulting in capacitors with energy storage densities close to lead-acid batteries. Michigan Tech scientists have developed a unique honeycomb shaped three-dimensional graphene electrode with a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 7.8% and low cost, which is expected to replace platinum in solar cell applications. Toshiba has developed a graphene and silver nanowire composite transparent electrode and achieved large-area coverage.
（3） In the field of semiconductor materials.
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Graphene is considered an ideal material to replace silicon, and a large number of powerful enterprises have carried out research and development of graphene semiconductor devices. Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea has developed a highly stable n-type graphene semiconductor that can be used for prolonged exposure to air. Columbia University in the United States has developed a graphene silicon optoelectronic hybrid chip, which has broad application prospects in the fields of optical interconnection and low-power photonic integrated circuits. IBM researchers have developed graphene field-effect transistors with a cutoff frequency of up to 100GHz, which have frequency performance far exceeding the cutoff frequency of silicon transistors with the same gate length (40GHz). （4） Biomedical field. Graphene and its derivatives have broad applications in nano drug delivery systems, biological detection, biological imaging, tumor therapy, and other fields. Graphene based biological devices or biosensors can be used for bacterial analysis, DNA and protein detection. The graphene nanopore device developed by the University of Pennsylvania in the United States can quickly complete DNA sequencing. Graphene quantum dots are applied in biological imaging and have the characteristics of more stable fluorescence, no photobleaching, and less light decay compared to phosphors. Although the application research of graphene in the biomedical field is still in its infancy, it is one of the application areas with particularly broad prospects for industrialization.