Surface Affinity Of Graphene For Health, Energy And Environmental Safety Applications

Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007, India

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2013, 4 (10), pp 721-736

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2013.3438

Publication Date (Web): Oct 13, 2013

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: rkakkar@chemistry.du.ac.in

Abstract

This review focuses on the applications of graphene, and the effects of doping and functionalization on its properties. Though known for several years, the potential applications of graphene in various fields have only been recently realized. Remarkable research is going on in the various application based fields of graphene, such as in hydrogen storage, Li batteries, catalysis and many more. Its use as a sensor to detect various species at the molecular level is fascinating. Also, on account of its 2D structure, graphene has found promising applications in several adsorption phenomena. Various adsorption studies have been done on the graphene surface resulting in the chemisorption of the chemical species. This review focuses on the application of graphene for removal of hazardous substances, such as heavy metal ions and drug metabolites, from waste waters. Another class of substances, known as disinfection by-products (DBPs), formed during the disinfection of drinking water using chlorine, ozone, chloramines and chlorine dioxide as disinfectants, and the use of graphene for their removal, is also discussed. Use of graphene based materials as chemical and biosensors and its applications in various other fields is also briefly discussed.

Keywords

Graphene, adsorption, sensor, pollutants.