Significant photoelectrical response of epitaxial graphene grown on Si-terminated 6H-SiC

Photoelectrical response characteristics of epitaxial graphene (EG) films on Si- and C-terminated 6H-SiC, and transferred chemical vapor deposition (CVD) graphene films on Si-terminated 6H-SiC have been investigated. The results show that upon illumination by a xenon lamp, the photocurrent of EG grown on Si-terminated SiC significantly increases by 147.6%, while the photocurrents of EG grown on C-terminated SiC, and transferred CVD graphene on Si-terminated SiC slightly decrease by 0.5% and 2.7%, respectively. The interfacial buffer layer between EG and Si-terminated 6H-SiC is responsible for the significant photoelectrical response of EG. Its strong photoelectrical response makes it promising for optoelectronic applications.     

氧化石墨制备温度对石墨烯结构及其锂离子电池性能的影响

采用改进的Hummers 法, 以石墨粉为原料制备氧化石墨, 然后使用微波还原法制备石墨烯, 最后以石墨烯作为负极材料组装锂离子电池. 系统的研究了高温氧化阶段中温度对氧化石墨的氧化程度、石墨烯的还原程度和比表面积以及锂离子电池性能的影响. 利用场发射扫描电镜(FESEM)、 X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、X射线衍射仪(XRD)、BET测量仪对氧化石墨和石墨烯的微观结构及比表面积等进行测试和表征. XRD, XPS及电化学测试的结果显示当高温阶段氧化温度为90 °C时, 氧化石墨的氧化程度最高, 相应的石墨烯也具有最高的还原程度和最大的比表面积423.2 m²/g, 同时石墨烯锂离子电池也具有更好的性能: 首次放电比容量为1555.5 mAh/g, 充电容量为1024.6 mAh/g, 其循环放电比容量达到600 mAh/g.     

Temperature dependence of the thickness and morphology of epitaxial graphene grown on SiC （0001） wafers

Epitaxial graphene is synthesized by silicon sublimation from the Si-terminated 6H–SiC substrate. The effects of graphitization temperature on the thickness and surface morphology of epitaxial graphene are investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra and atomic force microscopy images reveal that the epitaxial graphene thickness increases and the epitaxial graphene roughness decreases with the increase in graphitization temperature. This means that the thickness and roughness of epitaxial graphene films can be modulated by varying the graphitization temperature. In addition, the electrical properties of epitaxial graphene film are also investigated by Hall effect measurement.     

Low platinum loading PtNPs/graphene composite catalyst with high electrocatalytic activity for dye-sensitized solar cells

Platinum nanoparticles(PtNPs)/graphene composite materials are synthesized by a controlled chemical reduction of H2PtCl6 on graphene sheets.The electrocatalytic activity of a PtNPs/graphene composite counter electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell(DSSC) is investigated.The results demonstrate that the PtNPs/graphene composite has high electrocatalytic activity for the dye-sensitized solar cell.The cell employing PtNPs(1.6 wt%)/graphene counter electrode reaches an conversion efficiency(η)of 3.89% upon the excitation of 100 mW/cm2 AM 1.5 white light,which is comparable to that of the cell with a Pt-film counter electrode(η=3.76%).It suggests that one can use only 14% Pt content of the conventional Pt-film counter electrode to obtain a comparable conversion efficiency.It may be possible to obtain a high performance DSSC using the PtNPs/graphene composite with a very low Pt content as a counter electrode due to its simplicity,low cost,and large scalability.     

Radio-frequency transistors from millimeter-scale graphene domains

Graphene is a new promising candidate for application in radio-frequency(RF) electronics due to its excellent electronic properties such as ultrahigh carrier mobility, large threshold current density, and high saturation velocity. Recently,much progress has been made in the graphene-based RF field-effect transistors(RF-FETs). Here we present for the first time the high-performance top-gated RF transistors using millimeter-scale single graphene domain on a SiO2/Si substrate through a conventional microfabrication process. A maximum cut-off frequency of 178 GHz and a peak maximum oscillation frequency of 35 GHz are achieved in the graphene-domain-based FET with a gate length of 50 nm and 150 nm,respectively. This work shows that the millimeter-scale single graphene domain has great potential applications in RF devices and circuits.