Graphene-based thin films: fabrication and applications

温室气体排放和废水中的工业污染物是全球变暖的主要原因，对人类、动物和植物都有直接的不利影响。因此，迫切需要绿色技术，通过可部署的、具有成本效益的空气污染监测系统和空气/水处理技术来解决这些问题。基于石墨烯及其衍生物的量子材料是帮助我们实现这些目标的最有前途的平台之一。它们具有独特的结构和电学性质，可用于实现敏感的气体检测、高效的分子捕获和光催化过程，能够将污染物还原为无害的物质。该项目旨在确定氧化石墨烯和氧化石墨烯还原薄膜的可扩展制造技术，这些技术可用于以低成本生产用于环境应用的高效设备。薄膜样品将首先在突尼斯大学制造，然后在渥太华大学进行测试，以评估其在气体检测、气体捕集和光催化方面的性能。这项研究收获了量子材料的独特性质，通过支持新一代化学探测器和空气/水处理技术的开发，支持加拿大减少温室气体排放的目标，并改善加拿大人的整体健康。

Greenhouse gas emissions and industrial contaminations in wastewater play a major role in global warming and have direct adverse effects on humans, animals, and plants. There is therefore an urgent need for green technologies to address these problems via deployable and cost-effective air pollution monitoring systems and air/water treatment technologies. Quantum materials based on graphene and its derivatives are among the most promising platforms to help us achieve those goals. They have unique structural and electrical properties that can be used to achieve sensitive gas detection, efficient molecular trapping and photocatalysis processes able to reduce pollutants to harmless substances. This project aims to identify scalable fabrication techniques of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide thin films that can be used to produce, at low cost, efficient devices for environmental applications. Thin film samples will first be fabricated at the University of El Manar Tunis and they will then be tested at the University of Ottawa to assess their performances for gas detection, gas trapping and photocatalysis. This research harvest unique properties of quantum materials to support Canada's goals in greenhouse reduction and improve overall health of Canadians by supporting the development of a new generation of chemical detectors as well as air/water treatment technologies.