Graphene-based fibers

Carbon fibers have various advantages, such as light weight, high mechanical strength and environmental stability, which make them be useful in various fields in our daily life. Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), CNTs-based fibers/yarns emerged as a new type of carbon fibers, which possessed high mechanical strength, high electrical and thermal conductivities, as compared to the conventional carbon fibers [1-8]. Graphene is a 2D layer of carbon atoms with a honeycomb lattice configuration, which is also the building block of carbon materials [9]. Similar to CNTs, graphene has high electron mobility [9-14], high thermal conductivity [13] and excellent elasticity and stiffness [14]. Therefore, the assembly of graphene and graphene related components has been a hot research topic. Currently, graphene has been assembled into 1D (fibers, yarns, wires), 2D (papers, sheets, membranes) and 3D (gels, foams, sponges), which will be discussed from this chapter onwards [15].