The RGO sheets are homogeneously distributed in the RGO/Cu composite produced by the molecular-level mixing and high-shear mixing method and the composites with high mechanical properties are obtained.

A simple approach is developed to fabricate a graphene-like carbon nanosheet/Cu composite by sintering commercial Cu powders with oleic acid coating.

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) with a porous nanostructure and large surface area suffers from poor volumetric capacitance when it is employed in supercapacitors. This paper reports a facile, scalable and efficient method to produce self-assembled reduced graphene oxide with high packing density (1.55 g cm⁻³) via phosphoric acid treatment (PAT) at moderate temperatures (200–400 °C). The PAT process could not only controllably preserve redox-active C–OH and CO groups which can provide large and stable pseudocapacitance, but also contribute to the formation of a well self-assembled compact structure. Due to the pseudocapacitive behavior of the electrochemically active oxygen functional groups as well as the compact layered structure, the reduced graphene oxide (RGO-MP40) exhibits an ultrahigh volumetric capacitance (482 F cm⁻³ and 384 F cm⁻³ at a mass loading of 2.5 mg cm⁻² and 19.7 mg cm⁻², respectively). This novel strategy holds great promise for designing graphene-based materials for compact energy-storage devices.

Magnetism in graphene has stimulated extensive studies to search for novel metal-free magnetic device. In this paper, we use a synthesis method far from equilibrium state named self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) to produce few-layer graphene with different defect contents and then use a heat treatment process (vacuum-annealing and air-cooling) to further control the defects in graphene. We find that the type and content of defects in graphene can be controlled by adjusting the mole ratio of reactants (Mg: CaCO₃) for SHS reaction and the temperature of the subsequent heat treatment. The deviation of the ratio of reactants from stoichiometric ratio benefits the production of graphene with higher concentration of defects. It is indicated that the temperature of the heat treatment has remarkable influences on the structure of graphene, Raman-sensitive defects can be recovered partly by heat treatment while IR-sensitive defects are closely related with the oxidation and decomposition of the oxygen-containing groups at elevated temperature. This work indicates that SHS is a promising method to produce graphene with special magnetism, and the heat treatment is an effective way to further adjust the magnetism of graphene. This work sheds light on the study to develop carbon materials with controlled ferromagnetism.

Due to the synergistic effects of the CuCo₂S₄ core and the Ni(OH)₂ shell, the reasonably designed core–shell CuCo₂S₄@Ni(OH)₂ electrode shows a superior electrochemical performance.