Sheets Of Sp2-bonded Carbon Atoms Research Articles

Electrical properties of graphene/waterborne polyurethane composite films

Graphene is classified as a carbon-based material. Structurally, graphene is made up of carbon-based two-dimensional atomic crystals and a one atom thick planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms. This sort of arrangement in graphene makes it a unique material with exceptional mechanical, physicochemical, thermal, electrical, optical, and biomedical properties. Methods for graphene-based fabric production mainly use graphene-based materials such as graphene (G), graphene oxide (GO), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coated on fabric or yarn. Waterborne polyurethane (WPU) is one of the most rapidly developing and active branches of polyurethane chemistry. More and more attention is being paid to graphene-coated fabrics owing to their low temperature flexibility, the presence of zero or very few VOCs (volatile organic compounds), water resistance, pH stability, superior solvent resistance, excellent weathering resistance, and desirable chemical and mechanical properties. It is used as a coating agent or adhesive for fibers, textiles, and leather. Also, graphene-containing materials have been used to enhance the properties of WPU. In this study, graphene/WPU composite solution and film was prepared to conduct basic research for developing electrical heating textiles which is not harmful to the human body, flexible and excellent in electrical properties. Graphene/WPU composite solutions were prepared with a graphene content of 0, 2, 4, 8, and 16 wt%, and graphene/WPU film was prepared with solution casting method. The graphene contents were analyzed for their surface morphology, electrical properties, and electrical heating properties.

Improvement of the local characteristics of graphene surface plasmon based on guided-mode resonance effect

Graphene is a one-atom-thick planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. Graphene has been found to support plasmons in a wide range from infrared to terahertz. The confinement of plasmons in graphene is stronger than that on metallic surface. Moreover, the plasmon properties can be dynamically adjusted by doping or grating graphene. In this study, a composite structure comprised of graphene and subwavelength grating is proposed. Highly confined plasmons in graphene are excited by using a diffraction grating with guided mode resonance effect. The wave vector of plasmonic wave in graphene is far larger than that of light in vacuum. To excite plasmons in graphene with a freespace optical wave, their large difference in wave vector must be overcome. Optical gratings are widely used to compensate for wave vector mismatches. A diffraction wave generated by the grating structure can overcome the large wave vector difference and excite surface plasmons. The guided-mode resonance can greatly enhance the intensity of the diffraction field and the coupling efficiency between graphene and incident light. When the phase matching between illuminating wave and a guide mode supported by grating is achieved, guided-mode resonance effect occurs. A nearly 100% diffraction efficiency peak in the reflection or transmission spectrum occurs at a certain wavelength. In this study, the influences of graphene and grating structure on the local characteristics (the surface electric field Ex/Ein, quality factor Q, and effective mode area Seff) of surface plasmons are investigated. The effects of the structural parameters (the thickness of the buffer layer T2, the grating period p, the carrier mobility , and the Fermi level EF) on localization properties are analyzed by the finite element method (COMSOL). The results reveal that the localizations of the surface plasmons in the graphene surface is significantly improved at the certain parameters. 1) The increase of T2 will reduce the intensity of electric field on graphene (Ex/Ein), but the quality factor will obtain a certain increase. The excition of highly confined SPPs needs to improve Q and keep the intensity of Ex/Ein, so in this study T2 = 10 nm. 2) By adjusting the quality factor of SPPs can be improved significantly without changing the resonance frequency ( = 0.7 m2(Vs), Qmax = 1793). 3) Small changes in p and EF will make the resonance peak shift obviously, and the electric field on graphene is greatly enhanced (p = 235 nm, Ex/Ein = 3154; EF = 0.72 eV, and Ex/Ein = 3968). Strong localization leads to strong light-matter interaction, and thus the proposed structure has the potential to be used as sensors with high sensitivity and high-efficiency nonlinear optical devices, greatly expanding the application of graphene in nano optics.

Synthesis and Characterization of Sulfonated Poly(ether sulfone)s Containing Mesonaphthobifluorene for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

The novel sulfonated poly(ether sulfone)s containing mesonaphthobifluorene (MNF) moiety were synthesized and characterized their properties. The prepared polymers have highly conjugated aromatic structure due to the MNF group which is an allotrope of carbon and one atom thick planar sheets of sp2-bonded carbon atoms. Poly(ether sulfone)s bearing tetraphenylethylene on polymer backbone were synthesized by polycondensation and followed intra-cyclization from tetraphenylethylene to form MNF by Friedel-craft reaction with Lewis acid (FeCl3). The sulfonation was performed selectively on MNF units with conc. sulfuric acid. The structural properties of the sulfonated polymers were investigated by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The membranes were studied by ion exchange capacity (IEC), water uptake, and proton conductivity. The synthesized polymer electrolyte membranes showed better thermal and dimensional stabilities owing to the inducted highly conjugated aromatic structure in the polymer backbone. The water uptake of the synthesized membranes ranged from 23-52%, compared with 32.13% for Nafion 211 at 80 degrees C. The synthesized membranes exhibited proton conductivities (80 degrees C, RH 90%) of 74.6-100.4 mS/cm, compared with 102.7 mS/cm for Nafion 211.

Graphene: Emerging Trends, Prospects and Challenges

Graphene: Emerging Trends, Prospects and Challenges Graphene has been extensively used in numerous multifarious applications during the last decade due to its unique properties, which include large surface-to-volume ratio, unique optical properties, excellent electrical conductivity, high carrier mobility, high carrier density, high thermal conductivity, room temperature Hall effect, ambipolar field-effect characteristics, high signal-to-noise ratio, and extremely high mechanical strength. It is a two-dimensional planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms packed densely in a honeycomb crystal lattice. The mass production of graphene is done by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and chemical or thermal reduction of graphene oxide. Several chemical modification, biomolecular immobilization and nanocomposite formation strategies for graphene have also been developed.

Adsorption on epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001)

Abstract

Biocompatibility of microbially reduced graphene oxide in primary mouse embryonic fibroblast cells

Graphene nanosheet is a one-atom thick planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms, which are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice, attracting tremendous attention from both fundamental research and industrial applications. The synthesis of graphene from graphene oxide (GO) using a biological method is one of the important topics in the areas of nanotechnology, because graphene-based nanomaterials have potential applications. A green, simple and non-toxic method for preparing graphene using biomass of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as the reducing reagent is proposed. The resulting microbially reduced graphene oxide (M-rGO) was characterized using a range of analytical techniques. UV–visible spectroscopy confirms the transition of graphene oxide to graphene. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to study the changes in surface functionalities. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the crystalline nature and the morphologies of prepared graphene respectively. Furthermore, the biocompatibility of the M-rGO was investigated using primary mouse embryonic fibroblast (PMEF) cells. The present study suggests that the M-rGO has significant biocompatibility for PMEF cells, even at a high concentration of 100μgml−1. Therefore, the proposed safe and green method confers the M-rGO with a great potential for various biomedical applications.

Label-free electrochemical impedance genosensor based on 1-aminopyrene/graphene hybrids

In this work, we proposed a novel simple protocol for preparing 1-aminopyrene/graphene (ApG) hybrids for fabricating label-free electrochemical impedance genosensor. Graphene, with the structure of a single-atom-thick sheet of sp(2)-bonded carbon atoms, was anchored to 1-aminopyrene (1-Ap) with the pyrenyl group viaπ-stacking interaction. The morphology, conductivity, and interaction of ApG hybrids were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), UV-visible (UV-vis) and fluorescence spectra. The amino-substituted oligonucleotide probe was conjugated to 1-Ap by the cross-linker glutaraldehyde. The DNA hybridization reaction of oligonucleotide probe with target DNA was monitored by EIS. Under optimum conditions, the proposed biosensor exhibited high sensitivity and a low detection limit for detecting the complementary oligonucleotide. The target oligonucleotide could be quantified in a wide range of 1.0 × 10(-12) to 1.0 × 10(-8) M with good linearity (R = 0.9900) and low detection limit of 4.5 × 10(-13) M (S/N = 3).

Graphene: A Rising Star on the Horizon of Materials Science

Graphene, a one-atom thick planar sheet of sp2bonded carbon atoms packed in a honeycomb lattice, is considered to be the mother of all graphitic materials like fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphite. Graphene has created tremendous interest to both physicists and chemists due to its various fascinating properties, both observed and predicted with possible potential applications in nanoelectronics, supercapacitors, solar cells, batteries, flexible displays, hydrogen storage, and sensors. In this paper, a brief overview on various aspects of graphene such as synthesis, functionalization, self-assembly, and some of its amazing properties along with its various applications ranging from sensors to energy storage devices had been illustrated.