Structural diversity of graphene materials and their multifarious roles in heterogeneous photocatalysis

Recent years have seen the rocket rise of graphene as the unique two-dimensional carbon nanosheets and its outstanding promise in materials science. In particular, because of its diverse, tunable structural and electronic properties, graphene has been well recognized to be an ideal co-catalyst to optimize the photocatalytic performance of semiconductors. Given that the conductive, optical, chemical and mechanical performances of graphene are closely linked to its structural diversity, tremendous efforts have been devoted to designing and tailoring the graphene nanosheets to construct the desirable architecture. The tailored graphene materials (GMs), such as zero-dimensional graphene quantum dots, one-dimensional graphene nanoribbons and three-dimensional graphene frameworks show a variety of fascinating features, thereby offering a fertile and flexible ground for the further development of GMs enhanced photocatalysis. This review aims to provide an overview on the structural diversity, tunable properties, and synthetic strategies of these GMs, followed by highlighting their multi-functionality in heterogeneous photocatalysis. Finally, the perspectives on future research trends and challenges in constructing more efficient GMs-enhanced systems for solar energy conversion are presented. The integral comprehension of GMs with all dimensions would further guide the fundamental processing-structure-properties-applications relationships of GMs. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.