Heat-Initiated Chemical Functionalization of Graphene

A heat-initiated chemical reaction was developed to functionalize CVD-grown graphene at wafer scale and the reaction was universally extended to carbon nanotubes and other precursors that could be thermally converted to active radicals. The chemical reaction can occur in absence of oxygen and water vapor when the temperature is above the decomposition temperature of the reactants. The chemical reaction was also found to be substrate-dependent due to surface doping and inhomogeneity. A large-scale graphene pattern was demonstrated by combing with microfluidic technique. This heat-initiated solid-phase chemical reaction provides a facile and environmentally friendly approach to functionalize carbon nanomaterials with various functional groups.