Reversible Fluorination of Graphene: towards a Two-Dimensional Wide Bandgap Semiconductor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates reversible fluorination of graphene to create a wide bandgap semiconductor called graphene fluoride, with potential for electronic and optical applications, and shows how reduction restores high conductivity.

Contribution

It introduces a method to reversibly modify graphene's band structure via fluorination and reduction, enabling tunable electronic properties.

Findings

Graphene fluoride exhibits a wide bandgap and high resistance (>10 GΩ).

Reduction of graphene fluoride restores high conductivity (<100 kΩ).

Electron transport follows variable-range hopping in two dimensions.

Abstract

We report the synthesis and evidence of graphene fluoride, a two-dimensional wide bandgap semiconductor derived from graphene. Graphene fluoride exhibits hexagonal crystalline order and strongly insulating behavior with resistance exceeding 10 G$\Omega$ at room temperature. Electron transport in graphene fluoride is well described by variable-range hopping in two dimensions due to the presence of localized states in the band gap. Graphene obtained through the reduction of graphene fluoride is highly conductive, exhibiting a resistivity of less than 100 k$\Omega$ at room temperature. Our approach provides a new path to reversibly engineer the band structure and conductivity of graphene for electronic and optical applications.