Abstract: Amorphous two-dimensional graphene-like carbon films provide benefits to a variety of applications due to advantageous electrical, mechanical, and chemical properties. Methods are provided to efficiently and cheaply create high-quality amorphous two-dimensional carbon films with embedded graphene-like nanocrystallites using coal as a precursor. These methods employ solution-phase deposition of coal-derived graphene-containing quantum dots followed by relatively low-temperature annealing/crosslinking of the quantum dots to form a single two-dimensional layer of carbon that includes a plurality of randomly-oriented discrete graphene domains connected to each other via amorphous carbon regions. Multi-layer films can be easily created by repeating the deposition and annealing processes. Two-dimensional carbon films formed in this manner exhibit improved properties when compared to crystalline graphene sheets and have properties especially suited to use as the storage medium of memristors.

Abstract: Amorphous two-dimensional graphene-like carbon films provide benefits to a variety of applications due to advantageous electrical, mechanical, and chemical properties. Methods are provided to efficiently and cheaply create high-quality amorphous two-dimensional carbon films with embedded graphene-like nanocrystallites using coal as a precursor. These methods employ solution-phase deposition of coal-derived graphene-containing quantum dots followed by relatively low-temperature annealing/crosslinking of the quantum dots to form a single two-dimensional layer of carbon that includes a plurality of randomly-oriented discrete graphene domains connected to each other via amorphous carbon regions. Multi-layer films can be easily created by repeating the deposition and annealing processes. Two-dimensional carbon films formed in this manner exhibit improved properties when compared to crystalline graphene sheets and have properties especially suited to use as the storage medium of memristors.