Boron doped graphene synthesis using pulsed laser deposition and its electrochemical characterization

During the design of graphene (G), their electronic, chemical and electrochemical properties among others can be tuned by incorporating heteroatoms in the honeycomb structure. In this study, we investigated boron doped graphene (BG) synthesis and the effect of boron content on the electrochemical property of graphene. To this end, BG was synthesized using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with carbon and boron as solid sources, followed by rapid thermal annealing in the presence of nickel catalyst. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the BG films consisted of few-layer graphene and boron doping increased the defects level in the films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the successful boron doping into the graphene with the control of boron content. Electrochemical characterization demonstrated that BG electrodes exhibit higher reversibility and electron transfer constant than the G electrode. All these results prove that PLD method is a viable alternative way to produce BG films with excellent electrochemical properties.