Fluorine saturation on thermally reduced graphene

Fluorographene is a wide band-gap insulator with high photoluminescence and hydrophobicity. In the past, fluorographene was considered to be chemically inert similarly to Teflon. However, it has been recently reported that fluorographene can undergo several chemical modifications such as nucleophilic or radical substitutions. Fluorinated graphene is typically prepared by top-down synthesis based on sonochemical exfoliation of fluorographite. This method does not allow any control over the graphene fluorination degree. On the other hand, methods based on reaction of fluorine with graphene can be used for synthesis of fluorographene with control of the fluorine content. In this work, we have demonstrated the synthesis of fluorinated graphene with composition in the range from (C₁F₀.05)(n) up to (C₁F₀.6)(n) at room temperature. A detailed mapping of experimental conditions allows synthesis with tailored fluorine concentration. The influence of fluorination degree on graphene structure, surface functional group composition and electrochemical properties was studied in detail. Moreover, partially fluorinated graphene exhibited enhanced bio-sensing activity towards nucleobases. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.