Geim Research Articles

Russians Go West

Russians Go West

Preface to the Focus Issue on Nanocarbons for Energy Harvesting and Storage

We are pleased to present a Focus Issue of the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology (JSS) on nanocarbons for energy harvesting and storage. Fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and graphene have taken a solid place in modern science and technology, as demonstrated by the awarding of two Nobel Prizes – the first, in Chemistry, was given in 1996 to Robert F. Curl Jr., Sir Harold Kroto and Richard E. Smalley for the discovery of fullerenes. The second, in Physics, was awarded in 2010 to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for the isolation of graphene. Since 1985, more than 115,000 scientific papers have been published on topics devoted to fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, graphene and related materials and there is no doubt that these types of carbon nanomaterials, with their unique structures and properties, will continue to find many new applications in all areas of science, medicine and technology, including electrochemical science and technology.

Graphene's new rival

Graphene has become the darling of the postsilicon crowd in the eight years since Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov isolated it by ripping Scotch tape off a chunk of graphite. But there are other two-dimensional nanowonders. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> ), which can be pulled off a block of molybdenite through the same process, could offer new approaches to making high-speed logic circuits-on its own or in combination with graphene.

Special issue to “ICMAT 2011, Symposium N: Advanced materials for energy storage systems—from fundamentals to applications, June 26–July 1, 2011, Singapore”

For the sixth time, MRS-Singapore in association with the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and various other national and international institutes organised the biennial International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT) from 26 June to 1 July 2011 at the SUNTEC Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. ICMAT 2011 was inaugurated by the Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang, the President of NUS Tan Chorh Chuan, and B.V.R. Chowdari, Organizing Chair of ICMAT 2011. The event was attended by more than 3,000 scholars, researchers and practitioners from 67 countries presenting over 3,600 scientific contributions. A wide range of frontier areas in materials science and technology from graphene, topological insulators and various other nanostructures; via metamaterials; experimental and computational tools for materials characterisation to materials solutions for the harvesting, storage and use of renewable energy, as well as biochemistry and biomedical applications were covered in the 40 symposia and 9 plenary talks, of which 4 were given by the Nobel laureates Albert Fert, Ada Yonath, Klaus von Klitzing and Andre Geim. Symposium N on “Advanced Materials for Energy Storage Systems” provided a high-quality interdisciplinary forum addressing recent trends of science and technology related to materials for energy storage and power sources. With the participation of 183 scientists, sharing their

Stacking-dependent properties of trilayer graphene

Graphene, a single atomic layer of graphite, consists of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. Since its experimental isolation on insulating SiO2 (silica) substrates in 2004,1 it has quickly taken the scientific and technological communities by storm. It has been dubbed as a ‘carbon flatland,’ ‘carbonwonderland,’ and a new ‘wonder material’ because of its extraordinary material properties. For instance, it is the ultimate 2D system: it is softer than silk yet stronger than steel; it conducts heat better than copper; and it conducts electricity better than silicon. It is also transparent and elastic, yet as a capping layer it is impermeable to even the smallest molecules. These and other material properties continue to astound. The 2010 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Andre Geim andKonstantinNovoselov for their groundbreaking experiments on graphene. The initial flurry of activity following discovery mainly focuses on single-layer graphene. Its few-layer cousins were largely ignored, since they are assumed to be similar to graphite, a well-studied material. More recently, however, researchers have realized that few-layer graphene (FLG) hosts a wealth of fascinating physics and potential applications.2–5 For instance, band structures are more amenable to band-gap engineering and application in digital electronics, while allowing stronger electron interactions that lead to novel correlated phenomena. Equally fascinating is the dependence of their properties on the manner in which successive graphene layers are stacked.6–9 Most FLG and graphite are Bernal-stacked. In other words, one corner of the hexagons of the top sheet is located above the center of the hexagons of the bottom sheet. Because the adjacent atoms in each graphene sheet are considered crystallographically inequivalent, there are up to 2n 2 distinct stacking sequences in n-layer graphene, with different band structures. Stacking order thus provides an important yet rarely explored degree of freedom for tuning the electronic properties of FLG. Figure 1. (a) Schematics of ABA (Bernal)and ABC (rhombohedral)stacked three-layer graphene (TLG), respectively. (b) Resistance (R) vs. charge density n (in log-linear scales) for suspended ABA (red curve) and ABC (blue curve) TLG devices. Upper inset: Scanning electron microscopy image of a suspended TLG graphene device. Scale bar: 2 m.

Newsmakers

This week's Newsmakers are University of Manchester physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, structural biologist Venki Ramakrishnan, and climate researcher Robert Watson, who are being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and Royal Society of Chemistry President David Phillips and two other scientific researchers, who are receiving a different honor, Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Words from the wise: Andre Geim

Words from the wise: Andre Geim

Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 2/2012

AbstractThe present issue of physica status solidi contains papers presented at the 38th International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors (ISCS 2011). The symposium was held May 22–26, 2011 at the Maritim proArte Hotel in Berlin, Germany.Following the great success in Takamatsu, Japan, the “38th International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors (ISCS 2011)” was again held co‐located with the “23rd International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (IPRM 2011)“ under the umbrella of the “Compound Semiconductor Week 2011”.The symposium is one in an annual series, which has in the past rotated between North America, Europe and Asia. The last three conferences were held in Takamatsu, Japan (2010), Santa Barbara, USA (2009) and Rust, Germany (2008). The history of the symposium goes back to 1966 when the first “International Symposium on GaAs and Related Compounds” took place in Reading, England.The scope of the meeting includes both science and technology and the entire spectrum of III–V and II–VI compound semiconductors as well as SiGe, SiC and carbon related materials. Eight program sub‐committees, covered crystal growth and deposition techniques, oxides and carbon related materials, micro‐ and nanotechnologies, simulation and characterization, light emitters and detectors, high frequency and high power electronics, novel device concepts as well as sensors and actuators.The Compound Semiconductor Week 2011 attracted more than 460 participants from all over the world. A total of 370 papers were presented, including 3 joint plenary talks. Over the course of ISCS 2011, a total of 17 invited papers, 102 oral contributions and 120 poster presentations were given.The conference was opened with a plenary session by the Nobel prize winner 2010, Andre Geim from Manchester University, highlighting the current research on “Graphene”. Following his excellent talk, Connie Chang‐Hasnain, University of California, Berkeley, presented her pioneering research work on “Nanolasers on Silicon for Chip‐Scale Optoelectronics”. In a very interesting plenary talk on the future of optoelectronic communication, Meint Smit, Eindhoven University presented his view on “A New Era for InP‐based Photonic Integration”.We would like to thank all of the participants of ISCS 2011 for contributing to the success of the meeting and hope that you enjoyed the lively discussions with your colleagues as well as the atmosphere in the very heart of Berlin. We acknowledge the excellent work of the program committee, under the chair of Nicolas Grandjean and thank the referees of the manuscripts for their work.Finally, we extend our thanks to the VDE Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies and to the organizing committees from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics and the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications.The 39th International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors, chaired by Pallab Bhattacharya from the University of Michigan, will be held on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara from August 27–30, 2012.Freiburg, December 2011

Interview with Konstantin Novoselov: 2010 Nobel Prize winner for Physics

On 5 October last year, Konstantin Novoselov and his supervisor Professor Andre Geim jointly accepted the Nobel Prize for Physics 2010 for the discovery of graphene.

Address of the president, Lord Rees of Ludlow OM KT PRS, given at The Anniversary Meeting on 30 November 2010

Address of the president, Lord Rees of Ludlow OM KT PRS, given at The Anniversary Meeting on 30 November 2010

Nobel Heroes of Graphene

2010 Novel Prize in physics has been awarded to “discovery of graphene” for its infinite potential applications utilizing the outstanding electrical, thermal, mechanical, optical, and chemical properties of graphene. Unfortunately, Prof. Philip Kim (Columbia Univ) who measured the half-integer quantum Hall effect for the first time together with Andre Geim and Konstantin Novosolev failed to get the prize. In this article, the personal backgrounds of the Nobel laureates and Prof. Kim will be introduced first, and then we will discuss the lessons from 2010 Nobel Prize in physics and what Korea needs to do to get the first Nobel Prize in science.

Perspectives on the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for Graphene

The 2010 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for their groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene. Some personal perspectives about this award are presented.

”Our work showed how pretty damn good that material is“

AbstractAndre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics ”for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two‐dimensional material graphene“. Nachrichten aus der Chemie asked Andre Geim what he likes most about graphene and if he, too, believes that this new form of carbon could be the silicon of the future.

Andre Geim: in praise of graphene

Andre Geim: in praise of graphene

Still in Its Infancy, Two-Dimensional Crystal Claims Prize

Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom share the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery in 2004 of graphene, a one-atom-thick material made of carbon.

Nobel Prize 2010: Andre Geim &amp; Konstantin Novoselov

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 has been awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene".

Drawing conclusions from graphene

In a time when cutting-edge scientific research is expensive and complex, it seems absurd that a breakthrough in physics could be achieved with simple adhesive tape. But in 2004, Andre Geim, Kostya Novoselov and co-workers at the University of Manchester in the UK did just that. By delicately cleaving a sample of graphite with sticky tape, they produced something that was long considered impossible: a sheet of crystalline carbon just one atom thick, known as graphene. Many physicists believed that a 2D crystal like graphene would always roll up rather than stand free in a planar form; but Geim's group brought to an end years of unsuccessful attempts to isolate graphene, and was able to visualize the new crystal using a simple optical microscope (figure 1).

Study of the Homologous Retention Increment in Flat-Bed Chromatography

Abstract Relations between the chromatographic retention of various classes of homologous compounds in flat-bed chromatography systems and the thermodynamic properties of the latter were investigated. Provided the retention of solute (i) is due to liquid-liquid partition, the RMi is related to the partial molar excess Gibbs free energies of the solute in the mobile and stationary phases, GE im and GE is , by RMi = [(GE im - GE is )/ 2.3RT] - log A, where R and T are the universal gas constant and the absolute temperature of the system, respectively, and A = dmMsφm/dsMmφs, d, M, and φ denoting the densities, molar masses, and cross-sectional areas of the mobile and the stationary phases, m and s, respectively. The difference in the partial molar excess Gibbs free energies per solute methylene group in the mobile and in the stationary phase, related with the RM increment per methylene group of solute by GE m (CH2) - GE s (CH2) = 2.3RTRM (CH2), can be used to characterize the difference in the polarities of ...