A simple route for fabrication of graphene nanoribbons by pulsed laser irradiation in ethanol

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are fabricated from multi-walls carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via an unzipping process by using pulsed laser irradiation in ethanol. We confirm the successful transformation from MWCNTs to GNRs by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Related transformation mechanism is presented based on the pyrolithic and the photolithic interaction of MWCNTs with laser light.