Manchester: New material based on graphene could be an alternative to Teflon

Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov, winners of the 2010 Physics Nobel Prize for the invention of graphene, the world’s thinnest material, have now modified it to make fluorographene, a one-molecule-thick material chemically similar to the non-stick coating material Teflon.

Fluorographene, a fully-fluorinated graphene, is basically a two-dimensional version of Teflon, showing similar properties including chemical inertness and thermal stability. It is mechanically as strong as graphene. While it could be used as a thinner, lighter version of Teflon, fluorographene could also be in electronics, such as for new types of LED devices.

Working with research groups from China, the Netherlands, Poland and Russia, Geim and his team at Manchester University, UK, have exploited a new perspective on graphene, considering it as a large molecule that like any other molecule can be modified in chemical reactions.

The researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to obtain fluorographene in industrial quantities.

Fluorographene turns out to be a high-quality insulator, which does not react with other chemicals and can sustain high temperatures even in air. It was also found to be a wide gap semiconductor, and is optically transparent for visible light, unlike graphene, which is a semi-metal.

Rahul Nair, who led this research for the last two years as a PhD student working with Geim, said that while the properties of fluorographene are remarkably similar to those of Teflon it is not a plastic. “It is essentially a perfect one-molecule-thick crystal and [...] fluorographene is also mechanically strong. This makes a big difference in terms of possible applications. We plan to use fluorographene an ultra-thin tunnel barrier for development of light-emitting devices and diodes.”

Fluorographene could also be used everywhere Teflon is currently used, as an ultra-thin protective coating, or as a filler for composite materials where it is necessary to retain the mechanical strength of graphene, but avoid the electrical conductivity or optical opacity of a composite.

Industrial scale production of fluorographene is not likely to be a problem, as it would involve following the same steps as mass production of graphene. The researchers say the next step will be to make proof-of-concept devices and demonstrate various applications of fluorographene.

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