A bottom-up approach from molecular nanographenes to unconventional carbon materials

Strategies used to grow large graphenes and graphene-based materials through chemical approaches are discussed. Molecular graphenes are believed to be suitable precursors for growing large graphenes as well as fabricating graphene-based materials. The structure of the precursor and the thermolysis procedure determine the structure of the carbonaceous product; and a chemically driven method for the growth and integration of graphenes is thus developed. This paper gives a brief overview of the recent research works concerning chemical and thermal approaches toward large graphenes and graphene-based carbonaceous materials, including the selection of structurally-defined precursors, the template-assisted integration of molecular graphenes into unconventional carbon nanoobjects, the importance of the thermolysis procedures, and the function and application of the obtained materials.