Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms held together by sp2 hybridized carbon atom bonds. Carbon nanotubes, essentially, are rolled-up sheets of graphene.
Examples of applications
Because graphene is such a strong material, it can be used to strengthen other materials. A sheet of graphene can be rolled up to form a carbon nanotube, which resembles a microscopic straw. Only, this straw is extremely thin and extremely strong at the same time.
Having zero effective mass, it does not add to the weight of the material it enhances. Obvious applications are building materials, aerospace, and others where lightness and strength are of the essence.
Graphene can also be used to spread heat due to its high electrical conductivity. This can be especially useful in the microelectronics area, for strain sensors, for supercapacitors and batteries that can recharge quickly, solar cells, and LEDs to name a few. It also makes it ideal for high-speed quantum physics experiments.
Due to its impermeability is can be used to filter water to get clean drinking water and graphene-based paint can prevent corrosion.
Use a SuperK supercontinuum laser to characterize graphene.
Get access to these techniques with our white light laser:
- Fluorescence quenching microscopy
- Scanning probe microscopy (SNOM/NSOM/STM/AFM)
- Absorption spectroscopy/microscopy
- Raman spectroscopy
- Photoluminescence (PL) & photoluminescence excitation (PLE)
- Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) adsorption spectroscopy
- Rayleigh imaging and spectroscopy
Publications
The work listed below all uses the SuperK supercontinuum laser from NKT Photonics to characterize graphene or carbon nanotubes.
- Localized Charges Control Exciton Energetics and Energy Dissipation in Doped Carbon Nanotubes by Klaus H. Eckstein, Holger Hartleb, Melanie M. Achsnich, Friedrich Schöppler, and Tobias Hertel published in ACS Nano 2017 11 (10), 10401-10408.
- Real Time Hyperspectroscopy for Dynamical Study of Carbon Nanotubes by Jacques Lefebvre published by ACS Nano 2016, 10, 10, 9602-9607.
- Fully integrated quantum photonic circuit with an electrically driven light source by Svetlana Khasminskaya, Felix Pyatkov, Karolina Słowik, Simone Ferrari, Oliver Kahl, Vadim Kovalyuk, Patrik Rath, Andreas Vetter, Frank Hennrich, Manfred M. Kappes, G. Gol’tsman, A. Korneev, Carsten Rockstuhl, Ralph Krupke, and Wolfram H. P. Pernice published in Nature Photonics volume 10, pages 727–732, 2016.
- Excitation quenching in polyfluorene polymers bound to (6,5) single-wall carbon nanotubes by Angela Eckstein, Renata Karpicz, Ramūnas Augulis, Kipras Redeckas, Mikas Vengris, Imge Namal, Tobias Hertel, and Vidmantas Gulbinas published in Chemical Physics, Volume 467, 1 March 2016, Pages 1-5.
- Evidence for Strong Electronic Correlations in the Spectra of Gate-Doped Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes by Holger Hartleb, Florian Späth, and Tobias Hertel published in ACS Nano 2015 9 (10), 10461-10470.
- A comparison of Raman and photoluminescence spectra for the assessment of single-wall carbon nanotube sample quality by Matthias Kastner, Sabine Stahl, Ivonne Vollert, Christian Loi, Nicolas Rühl, Tobias Hertel, and Friedrich Schöppler published in Chemical Physics Letters, Volume 635, 16 August 2015, Pages 245-249.
- High energetic excitons in carbon nanotubes directly probe charge-carriers by Giancarlo Soavi, Francesco Scotognella, Daniele Viola, Timo Hefner, Tobias Hertel, Giulio Cerullo, and Guglielmo Lanzani published in Scientific Reports, Volume 5, Article number: 9681, 2015.
- Waveguide‐Integrated Light‐Emitting Carbon Nanotubes by Svetlana Khasminskaya, Feliks Pyatkov, Benjamin S. Flavel, Wolfram H. Pernice , and Ralph Krupke published in Advanced Materials, Volume 26, Issue 21, 2014.
- Dynamical Contact Line Pinning and Zipping during Carbon Nanotube Coffee Stain Formation by Han Li, Tilman C. Hain, Andreas Muzha, Friedrich Schöppler, and Tobias Hertel published in ACS Nano 2014 8 (6), 6417-6424.
- Triplet–triplet exciton dynamics in single-walled carbon nanotubes by Dominik Stich, Florian Späth, Hannes Kraus, Andreas Sperlich, Vladimir Dyakonov, and Tobias Hertel published in Nature Photonics volume8, pages139–144, 2014.
- Excitation and recombination dynamics of vacancy-related spin centers in silicon carbide by T. C. Hain, F. Fuchs, V. A. Soltamov, P. G. Baranov, G. V. Astakhov, T. Hertel, and V. Dyakonov Journal of Applied Physics 115, 133508, 2014
- Gate-tunable carbon nanotube-MoS2 heterojunction p-n diode by Deep Jariwala, Vinod K. Sangwan, Chung-Chiang Wu, Pradyumna L. Prabhumirashi, Michael L. Geier, Tobin J. Marks, Lincoln J. Lauhon, and Mark C. Hersam published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110(45), October 2013.
- Probing molecular interactions on carbon nanotube surfaces using surface plasmon resonance sensors by Nurbek Kakenov, Osman Balci, Sinan Balci, and Coskun Kocabas in Applied Physics Letters 101(22), November 2012.
- Plasmon-polaritons on graphene-metal surface and their use in biosensors by Omer Salihoglu, Sinan Balci, and Coskun Kocabas published in Applied Physics Letters 100, 213110, 2012.
- Single-walled carbon nanotubes as excitonic optical wires by Daniel Y. Joh, Jesse Kinder, Lihong H. Herman, Sang-Yong Ju, Michael A. Segal, Jeffreys N. Johnson, Garnet K.-L. Chan, and Jiwoong Park published in Nature Nanotechnology 6, 51–56, 2011.
- Gate-activated photoresponse in a graphene p-n junction by Max C. Lemme, Frank H. L. Koppens, Abram L. Falk, Mark S. Rudner, Hongkun Park, Leonid S. Levitov, and Charles M. Marcus published in Nano Letters 2011 11 (10), 4134-4137.
- Local On-Off Control of a Graphene p-n Photodetector by Max C. Lemme, Frank H. L. Koppens, Abram L. Falk, Mark S. Rudner, Hongkun Park, Leonid S. Levitov, and Charles M. Marcus published in Nano Letters 2011 11 (10), 4134-4137.
- Laser-based imaging of individual carbon nanostructures by Robin W. Havener, Adam W. Tsen, Hee Cheul Choi, and Jiwoong Park published in NPG Asia Materials volume 3, pages 91–99, 2011.
- Extremely Efficient Multiple Electron-Hole Pair Generation in Carbon Nanotube Photodiodes by Nathaniel M. Gabor, Zhaohui Zhong, Ken Bosnick, Jiwoong Park, Paul L. McEuen published in Science 11 Sep 2009: Vol. 325, Issue 5946, pp. 1367-1371.
