Graphene Coupled with Nanocrystals: Opportunities and Challenges for Energy and Sensing Applications

Graphene coupled with nanocrystals (NCs) represents a new type of hybrid nanostructure that has attracted wide attention in energy and sensing applications. The interaction between graphene and NCs provides the hybrids with additional properties, offering rich opportunities to tune the material structure and properties. This Perspective highlights some recent progress in the research on graphene-NC hybrid structures with a focus on their energy storage/conversion and sensing applications. The structural characteristics of graphene-NC hybrids and the advantages of coupling NCs with graphene are demonstrated and discussed. Recent studies have shown the great potential of graphene NC hybrids to improve the performance of energy storage/conversion devices (e.g., Li ion batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, and solar cells) and sensing devices (e.g., chemical sensors, biosensors, and water sensors). Further understanding and development of graphene NC hybrids could therefore help address the demand for new energy storage/conversion systems and challenges for the widespread use of graphene-based sensors.