Advanced Graphene-Based Nanocomposites through Guided Interfacial Assembly

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Graphene is a one atom thick sheet of conductive carbon. For a given surface area, it is the lightest weight electronic conductor of any material and can be produced relatively inexpensively, and in large volume, from natural graphite – a resource for which Canada holds the only significant source in North America and the 5th largest supply globally. This leads to its potential use in a multitude of applications for improved energy storage, energy generation or even as an advanced membrane material for separations. Unfortunately, very few commercial technologies involving graphene-based materials have emerged, in large part due to the difficulty in processing these 2D sheets into useful, 3D materials with predicable structure and thus function. To address this challenge, this research program aims to develop new tools and processes to create a platform of graphene-based materials whose structure can be manipulated and fine-tuned at the nanoscale. This will be achieved by developing coating processes capable of depositing large-area monolayer graphene films onto a variety of substrates. These approaches will take advantage of the fact that graphene-based sheets can float on water supported by the same forces that allow a water spider to walk on water. Through the development of this coating approach, atomically thin sheets (of a large area) will be built up layer-by-layer to create fully dense multi-layer films. In order to introduce useful space between each layer, we will develop coating approaches to decorate graphene with molecular scale pillars of tunable size which will define the effective pore opening between sheets in the layer-by-layer composites. Depending on the engineered pore-size, these materials could exhibit properties ranging from completely blocking layers (i.e., zero porosity) for advanced packaging, to more energy efficient membranes for water purification, and finally with the ability to accommodate ions and active material coatings for advanced supercapacitors, batteries or electrocatalysts. This research program is also designed to foster and inspire highly qualified personnel through a combination of apprenticeship, mentorship and exposure to an exciting but rigorous research environment. Specific activities proposed throughout this research program will build a foundation for many eventual application areas which will translate to new products for Canadian companies or to completely new ventures. The use of graphene in high volume applications such as in Li-ion batteries, supercapacitors and large area membranes for separations are expected to stimulate Canada’s graphite economy leading to new jobs and exports.