Phosphorus-Doped Graphene: Synthesis and Applications

Abstract

Graphene has attracted considerable interest regarding its remarkable properties. Graphene possesses a wide range of applications: energy storage devices, electronics, coatings, catalysis, food industry, and medical applications. The doping of graphene is necessary to open up a band-gap in graphene and enhance other properties such as specific surface area etc. Phosphorus atom is an astute choice for the doping of graphene. The introduction of phosphorus atoms into the graphene lattice results in n-type doping. Phosphorus-doped graphene is accountable for the enhancement of numerous graphene’s properties like, chemical reactivity, electrical conductivity, specific surface area, and adsorption capacity. Also, the phosphorus groups: P-O and C-P have a significant role for enhancing the electrochemical behavior of the P-doped graphene materials. Therefore, P-doped graphene has been widely used in numerous applications: supercapacitors, FETs, sensors, catalysis, and flame retardants. Several methods are engaged for the synthesis of P-doped graphene, namely, hydrothermal method, thermal annealing, chemical method, and an electrochemical method. All these methods have their importance and experimental conditions for synthesizing P-doped graphene. Out of all four synthesis methods, the hydrothermal method is the simplest. But it can be used only for small-scale synthesis, whereas the other three methods can be used for large-scale synthesis of P-doped graphene.