Catalysts 2023, 13, 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13010111 www.mdpi.com/journal/catalysts Review A Review on Properties and Environmental Applications of Graphene and Its Derivative-Based Composites Sanjay Kumar 1 , Himanshi 2 , Jyoti Prakash 2 , Ankit Verma 3 , Suman 4 , Rohit Jasrotia 2,5, *, Abhishek Kandwal 2 , Ritesh Verma 6 , Sachin Kumar Godara 7 , M. A. Majeed Khan 8 , Saad M. Alshehri 9 and Jahangeer Ahmed 9, * 1 School of Advanced Chemical Sciences, Shoolini University, Bajhol, Solan 173229, Himachal Pradesh, India 2 School of Physics and Materials Science, Shoolini University, Bajhol, Solan 173229, Himachal Pradesh, India 3 Faculty of Science and Technology, ICFAI University, Baddi 174103, Himachal Pradesh, India 4 School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Maharaja Agrasen University, Baddi 174103, Himachal Pradesh, India 5 Himalayan Centre of Excellence in Nanotechnology, Shoolini University, Bajhol, Solan 173229, Himachal Pradesh, India 6 Department of Physics, Amity University, Gurgaon 122413, Haryana, India; rverma1@ggn.amity.edu 7 Department of Apparel and Textile Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar 143005, India 8 King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia 9 Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia * Correspondence: rohitjasrotia@shooliniuniversity.com (R.J.); jahmed@ksu.edu.sa (J.A.); Tel.: +91-914-988-6631 (R.J.); +96-658-146-6291 (J.A.) Abstract: Graphene-based materials have gained a lot of scientific interest in the research era of modern technology, which can be quite flexible. Graphene has become popular as a potential mate- rial for the manufacture of a wide range of technologies due to its remarkable electrical, mechanical, and optical traits. Due to these excellent characteristics, the derivatives of graphene can be function- alized in various applications including environmental, medical, electronic, defence applications, and many more. In this review paper, we discussed the different synthesis methods for the extrac- tion of graphene and its derivatives. The different traits of graphene and its derivatives such as structural, mechanical, and optical were also discussed. An extensive literature review on the ap- plication of graphene-based composites is presented in this work. We also outlined graphene’s po- tential in the realm of environmental purification through different techniques such as filtration, adsorption, and photocatalysis. Lastly, the challenges and opportunities of graphene and its deriv- atives for advanced environmental applications were reported. Keywords: graphene; derivatives; photocatalysis; adsorption; environmental pollution 1. Introduction Graphene is a form of elemental carbon that has recently gained a lot of attention due to its unique properties. It consists of a single layer of carbon atoms that are organized in a pattern similar to that of a honeycomb. The first team to successfully produce graphene was led by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in the year 2004. Despite this, they acknowledged Hanns Peter Bohem and other laboratory researchers who carried out tests comparing graphene with thin graphite flakes for this finding. Thus, in 1986, Hanns Peter Bohem was the first person to use the term “graphene” [1]. Even before this, many scien- tists and researchers had already conducted research on the lamellae of graphite. Schafhaeutl found that graphite flaked off in the presence of sulfuric and nitric acid in the 1840s, and after that in 1859, Benjamin Brodie found that graphite oxide that had been heated and cooled had a lamellar structure [2–4]. Professors Geim and Novorelov won the Novel Prize in 2010 for their contributions to the field of physics, which helped to bring graphene to public attention [5]. The bond length between the C-C atoms in Citation: Kumar, S.; Himanshi; Prakash, J.; Verma, A.; Suman; Jasrotia, R.; Kandwal, A.; Verma, R.; Godara, S.K.; Khan, M.A.M.; et al. A Review on Properties and Environmental Applications of Graphene and Its Derivative-Based Composites. Catalysts 2023, 13, 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13010111 Academic Editors: Xinjiang Hu, Xiaofei Tan, Jiang Li, Chenyang Li and David Sebastián Received: 3 November 2022 Revised: 16 December 2022 Accepted: 28 December 2022 Published: 4 January 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Li- censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and con- ditions of the Creative Commons At- tribution (CC BY) license (https://cre- ativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).