Prospects of Supercritical Fluids in Realizing Graphene-Based Functional Materials

Abstract

Supercritical-fluids science and technology predate all the approaches that are currently established for graphene production by several decades in advanced materials design. However, it has only recently been proposed as a plausible approach for graphene processing. Since then, supercritical fluids have emerged into contention as an alternative to existing technologies because of their scalability and versatility in processing graphene materials, which include composites, aerogels, and foams. Here, an overview is presented of such materials prepared through supercritical fluids from an advanced materials science standpoint, with a discussion on their fundamental properties and technological applications. The benefits of supercritical-fluid processing over conventional liquid-phase processing are presented. The benefits include not only better performances for advanced applications but also environmental issues associated with the synthesis process. Nevertheless, the limitations of supercritical-fluid processing are also stressed, along with challenges that are still faced toward the achievement of the great expectations from graphene materials.