This review offers an overview on the chemical functionalization, characterization and applications of graphene-based materials.

The design of new organic functional molecules able to harvest sun light and efficiently undergo photon to current energy conversion processes is at the forefront of chemical challenges. In this review, the fundamental contribution of chemistry to the multidisciplinary field of organic photovoltaics is presented in a systematic way through the wide variety of organic compounds synthesized to be successfully used in photovoltaic devices.

Graphene is a unique material with outstanding mechanical and electronic properties. For solution processes graphene layers have to be stabilized by means of molecular or supramolecular chemical derivatization, prior to their transfer to solid substrates. The most common chemical methodology for the preparation of graphene involves the formation of graphene oxide under highly oxidizing conditions, which even after reduction, lacks the electronic quality of pristine graphene. Presently, there is increasing concern in the chemical community about the starting material quality, and recent efforts are directed to wet chemical approaches toward high-quality graphene flakes which encompass the use of graphite as initial material. In addition, epitaxial growth of graphene on metallic surfaces is becoming a powerful technique for the production of pristine graphene with a control on its electronic properties, somehow due to the supramolecular interaction with the metallic surface. Current approaches for the preparation of modified pristine graphene are the aim of this review.

Since the discovery of C₆₀fullerene, carbon-based nanostructures have become one of the hottest research topics in science. During the past decade research efforts have mainly been devoted to the investigation of C₆₀ and carbon nanotubes, although the ability of carbon to exist in different allotropic forms has provided a variety of nanoscale size shapes with fascinating properties. In this article we highlight some of the most representative examples that document the scientific progress accomplished in this field which, surprisingly, started with a serendipitous discovery.