Recent Advances in Graphene Patterning

As an emerging field of research, graphene patterning has received considerable attention because of its ability to tailor the structure of graphene and the respective properties, aiming at practical applications such as electronic devices, catalysts, and sensors. Recent efforts in this field have led to the development of a variety of different approaches to pattern graphene sheets, providing a multitude of graphene patterns with different shapes and sizes. These established patterning techniques in combination with graphene chemistry have paved the road towards highly attractive chemical patterning approaches, establishing a very promising and vigorously developing research topic. In this review, an overview of commonly used strategies is presented that are categorized into top-down and bottom-up routes for graphene patterning, focusing mainly on new advances. Other than the introduction of basic concepts of each method, the advantages/disadvantages are compared as well. In addition, for the first time, an overview of chemical patterning techniques is outlined. At the end, the challenges and future perspectives in the field are envisioned.