Surface Grafting of Carbon Nanostructures

Carbon nanostructures (CNs) have garnered substantial attention in this advanced research era because of their unique and interesting electronic, mechanical, structural, and adsorptive properties. The CNs hold great promise for numerous applications including the fundamental facets as a hot topic in the scientific community. However, the difficulty in creating satisfactory dispersions has impaired the optimal exploitation, development, and application of the CNs. Over the past few decades, extensive research works have been focused on surface grafting/modification of the CNs to bridle the constraints and challenges along with taking care of improving their application area. The goal has resulted in the creation of a vast number of advanced hybrid materials with the required features. The surface chemistry on the CNs has led to several breakthroughs, including improved dispersibility, selectivity, sorption capabilities, and outstanding surface-to-volume ratios. This chapter delves into the surface grafting/modification of the CNs having magical allotropes, like 0D (nanodiamond, fullerene, quantum dots, etc.), 1D (carbon nanotube, carbon nanohorns, etc.), and 2D (graphene sheets stacked to graphite), including their derivatives or prototypes. Apart from that the chapter also highlights methodology such as oxidation treatment, covalent and noncovalent interaction, plasma, gamma, rare earth element treatments with distinct examples and applications. In-silico design and characterization of a variety of CNs have also been discussed in this chapter along with their potential applications. By providing insights into the functionalization of the CNs (using experimental and computational techniques), this chapter aims to assist readers in identifying and addressing potential challenges in research endeavors.