Fluorination of two-dimensional graphene: A review

Fluorinated carbon materials have a wide range of applications due to their versatile properties. Functionalisation of carbon materials with fluorine enhances their properties and open their applications to new fields. Fluorinated graphene, in particular, has highly attracted researchers due to its 2-D structure, high hydrophobicity, wide bandgap and C-F bonding (ionic, semi-ionic/semi-covalent and covalent). This review gives a brief overview of the fluorination of various carbon materials such as graphite, carbon nanotubes, fullerene, and DLC and followed by an in-depth review of fluorination of 2-D graphene material. We discuss the synthetic methods of fluorinated graphene, which are mainly distinguished into exfoliation and direct fluorination. The relation between the type of bonds, F/C ratio and specific properties such as bandgap, optical properties, magnetic properties, electric and thermal conductivity and tribological properties are discussed. With a precise tuning of the F/C ratio and limiting the type of C-F bond, the fluorinated graphene can be used in battery storage devices, as a lubricant additive, as a gas sensing material and in other applications like quantum dots, supercapacitors and bioapplications.