Reliable, inexpensive, environment-friendly, and durable properties of carbon materials with unique and outstanding photoelectric performance is highly desired for myriad of applications such as catalysis and energy storage. Since lattice modulation is a vital method of surface modification of materials, which form by an external force during the synthesis process, causing the internal compression and stretching, leading to lattice sliding event. In this review, we present a summary of different methods to tailor the lattice modulation in 2D carbon-based materials, including grain/twin boundary, lattice strain, lattice distortion, and lattice defects. This overview highlights the implication control of the diverse morphologies of nanocrystals and how to tailor the materials properties without adding any polymers. The improvement in the performance of 2D carbon materials ranges from the enhancement of charge transport and conductivity, structural stability, high-performance of light absorption capacity, and efficient selectivity promote the future prospect of 2D carbon materials broaden their applications in terms of energy conversion and storage. Finally, some perspectives are proposed on the future developments and challenges on 2D carbon materials towards energy storage applications.

Combination of liquid-phase exfoliation and hydrothermal method has progressed in recent years mainly on production of 2D materials. In this study, graphene was successfully synthesized via combinatorial of liquid-phase exfoliation and hydrothermal method with the aid of various conductive surfactants perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylate (PTCA), lithium perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylate (LiPTCA) and sodium perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylate (NaPTCA). The effect of the lithium ( Li+) and sodium ( Na+) cations toward the efficiency of the graphene exfoliation process and its electrical properties was thoroughly investigated. Based on the characterization techniques, it is revealed that NaPTCA is the ideal conductive surfactant to exfoliate graphene sheets. X-ray diffraction spectra verified that the Na+ cation certainly can enhance the exfoliation process by expanding the interlayer spacing. The lateral size of the graphene sheets with Na-PTCA surfactant was the smallest (4.17 μm) as observed from SEM micrograph. The maximum concentration of the graphene yield was achieved up to 0.151 mgmL− 1 in NaPTCA surfactant alongside with excellent electrical conductivity of 746.27 Sm− 1 and relevant specific capacitance of 129 Fg− 1.