Fabrication of Graphene, Graphene Oxide, Reduced Graphene Oxide, Fullerene (C₆₀) and Carbon Nanotube Thin Film By Langmuir–Blodgett Method

Carbon being one of the most abundant elements on earth exists in different allotropes of different chemical and physical properties. It is found as graphite and diamond in nature. With the discovery of fullerene as nanomaterial in 1985, carbon materials have gained tremendous research interest. Thereafter, different forms of carbon-based nanostructures, e.g., graphene, carbon nanotubes, etc., have been developed and their remarkable obsessions in various modern applications have triggered this class of materials into a new horizon. In most of the device fabrication processes, thin films of these carbonaceous materials are generally required. Though various physical deposition processes exist to synthesize thin films of these carbonaceous materials, their industrial implications are limited due to cost, complexity of the process, etc. Instead, chemical processes are adopted to prepare them. Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) technique being one of the easy, cost-effective to synthesize carbonaceous thin film has been widely accepted by the researchers. In addition, this particular process includes several parameters to vary properties, e.g., porosity, pore size, texture, orientation of the thin film. In this chapter, basic principle of thin film fabrication using LB technique, along with parameters influencing quality of the thin films, has been briefly discussed.