Scalable bottom‐up assembly of suspended carbon nanotube and graphene devices by dielectrophoresis

Bottom‐up assembly by dielectrophoresis (DEP) has emerged in recent years as a viable alternative to conventional top–down fabrication of electronic devices from nanomaterials, particularly carbon nanotubes and graphene. Here, we demonstrate how this technique can be extended to fabricate devices containing carbon nanotubes and graphene suspended between two electrodes over a back‐gate electrode. The suspended device geometry is critical for the development of nano‐electromechanical devices and to extract maximum performance out of electronic and optoelectronic devices. This technique allows for parallel assembly of devices over large scale. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effect of spin–orbit coupling on spin transport at graphene/transition metal interface

In spite of large spin coherence length in graphene due to small spin–orbit coupling, the created potential barrier and antiferromagnetic coupling at graphene/transition metal (TM) contacts strongly reduce the spin transport behavior in graphene. Keeping these critical issues in mind in the present work, ferromagnetic (Co, Ni) nanosheets are grown on graphene surface to elucidate the nature of interaction at the graphene/ferromagnetic interface to improve the spin transistor characteristics. Temperature dependent magnetoconductance shows unusual behavior exhibiting giant enhancement in magnetoconductance with increasing temperature. A model based on spin–orbit coupling operated at the graphene/TM interface is proposed to explain this anomalous result. We believe that the device performance can be improved remarkably tuning the spin–orbit coupling at the interface of graphene based spin transistor. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Lewis acid-base surface interaction of some boron compounds with N-doped graphene; first principles study

We studied density functional theory (DFT) calculations in terms of energetic and electronic properties toward adsorption of some boron compounds (B(OCH₃)₃, BF₃ and BC1₃) on the surface of pristine as well as N-doped graphene using WB97XD/6-31 + G(d,p) level of theory. The net charge transfer of mentioned molecules on the surface of pristine and N-doped graphene was calculated with above-mentioned basis set using natural bond orbital and Mulliken charge analysis during complex formation. The computed dipole moment shows when above-mentioned molecules approach to the surface of N-doped graphene, the amount of the dielectric (μD) will change depending on the kind of molecule. Our calculations reveal that N-doped graphene system has much higher adsorption energy, higher net charge transfer value than pristine graphene due to Lewis acid-base interaction. Comparing B(OCH₃)₃ as an organic boron derivative with boron trihalides (BF₃ and BCl₃), the Lewis acidity increases in the order of BF₃ < BC1₃< B(OCH₃)₃ with adsorption energies (E_ads) of −8.7, −18.3 and −26.5 kJ/mol (BSSE) respectively, while low adsorption energies were calculated on pristine graphene for mentioned molecules.     

Influence of interlayer coupling and intra-layer Coulomb interaction on electronic transport in bilayer graphene

Calculations of renormalized perpendicular conductivity within Kubo formula employing single particle temperature dependent Green's function formalism for bilayer graphene has been attempted. On the basis of numerical analysis, perpendicular conductivity as a function of temperature, interlayer coupling, onsite Coulomb interaction and carrier concentration per site has been analyzed for both AA- and AB-stacked bilayer graphene. It is found that perpendicular conductivity increases with interlayer coupling and also with temperature at low temperatures while at higher temperatures, there is saturation in perpendicular conductivity. Influences of onsite Coulomb interaction and carrier concentration per site on perpendicular conductivity is just opposite to each other while onsite Coulomb energy suppresses the rate of increase of σ_⊥/σ_⊥0 with temperature, on the other hand increase in carrier density per site enhance this rate significantly. Finally, theoretically obtained results on temperature dependent perpendicular conductivity are viewed in terms of electronic transport data as well as recent theoretical works available in bilayer graphene.     

Electrochemiluminescence Sensor for Selective Preconcentration and Sensitive Detection of Napropamide Using Water‐Soluble Sulfonated Graphene

A novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor for napropamide determination was prepared using the water‐soluble sulfonated graphene (sulfonated‐G) as solid‐phase microextraction (SPME) material, based on selective preconcentration of target onto an electrode and followed by luminol ECL detection. The effects of pH, adsorption time, buffer solution and the luminescence agent on ECL intensity were optimized. Under the optimized conditions (pH 6; adsorption time 5 min; buffer solution pH 11.0 Na₂CO₃ aHCO₃; luminescence agent luminol; stirring speed 400 rpm), the lowest detection limits (1.0 µg L⁻¹) and good linear range (r²≥0.99) were obtained for the analyte, indicating the superior performance of Nafion/sulfonated‐G/GCE for detecting napropamide.     

Reinforcing epoxy resin through covalent integration of functionalized graphene nanosheets

A chemically converted graphene/epoxy (EP) resin nanocomposite has been developed through the use of the functionalized graphene nanosheets (FGNs). The FGNs were prepared via the reaction of amines with alkylcarboxyl groups attached to the graphite oxides in the course of a dicarboxylic acid acyl peroxide treatment. FGNs/EP composites were prepared by dissolving the FGNs in organic solvent followed by mixing with EP and curing agent. In this composite, the FGNs were able to create molecular entanglement with EP matrix by taking advantage of the reactions between amine groups of FGNs and EP groups of EP, thus the FGNs could be covalently integrated into the EP matrix and became part of the cross‐linked network structure rather than just a separated component. Great enhancement in the mechanical properties of the epoxy composite, such as the ultimate tensile strength and toughness, had been achieved with small loading (0.1 wt%) of FGNs by 17.0% and 262.2%, respectively. However, the FGNs reinforced EP composites showed a slight decrease in glass transition temperature (Tg). Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Graphene/activated carbon supercapacitors with sulfonated-polyetheretherketone as solid-state electrolyte and multifunctional binder

Sulfonated polyetheretherketone (SPEEK) has been synthesised by sulphonation process and used as the solid-state electrolyte, binder and surfactant for supercapacitors. Reduced graphene dispersed by SPEEK is used as a high-efficiency conducting additive in solid-state supercapacitors. It is found that SPEEK can improve the stability of the reduced graphene dispersion significantly, and therefore, the solid-state supercapacitors show a large decrease in IR drop and charge-transfer resistance (R_ct), resulting in a higher rate capability. The solid-state supercapacitors with the activated carbon/reduced graphene/SPEEK/electrode can be operated from 1 to 8 A/g and exhibit capacity retention of 93%. The noteworthy is more than twice higher value for capacity retention by comparison with the solid-state supercapacitors using activated carbon/reduced graphene/PVDF electrode (capacity retention is 36%). The cell of reduced graphene with SPEEK can be cycled over 5000 times at 5 A/g with no capacitance fading.     

Observing High‐Pressure Chemistry in Graphene Bubbles

Using IR spectroscopy, high‐pressure reactions of molecules were observed in liquids entrapped by graphene nanobubbles formed at the graphene–diamond interface. Nanobubbles formed on graphene as a result of thermally induced bonding of its edges with diamond are highly impermeable, thus providing a good sealing of solvents within. Owing to the optical transparency of graphene and diamond, high‐pressure chemical reactions within the bubbles can be probed with vibrational spectroscopy. By monitoring the conformational changes of pressure‐sensitive molecules, the pressure within the nanobubble can be calibrated as a function of temperature and it is about 1 GPa at 600 K. The polymerization of buckministerfullerene (C₆₀), which is symmetrically forbidden under ambient conditions, is observed to proceed in well‐defined stages in the pressurized nanobubbles.     

Large Hexagonal Bi‐ and Trilayer Graphene Single Crystals with Varied Interlayer Rotations

Bi‐ and trilayer graphene have attracted intensive interest due to their rich electronic and optical properties, which are dependent on interlayer rotations. However, the synthesis of high‐quality large‐size bi‐ and trilayer graphene single crystals still remains a challenge. Here, the synthesis of 100 μm pyramid‐like hexagonal bi‐ and trilayer graphene single‐crystal domains on Cu foils using chemical vapor deposition is reported. The as‐produced graphene domains show almost exclusively either 0° or 30° interlayer rotations. Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier‐transformed infrared spectroscopy were used to demonstrate that bilayer graphene domains with 0° interlayer stacking angles were Bernal stacked. Based on first‐principle calculations, it is proposed that rotations originate from the graphene nucleation at the Cu step, which explains the origin of the interlayer rotations and agrees well with the experimental observations.