Putting Graphene to the Test

University Communications Author

11/02/2015 Added

145 Plays

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Graphene has the potential to improve electronics, solar cells and other devices. UNL chemist Alexander Sinitskii is testing this promising nanomaterial with a $538,500 National Science Foundation CAREER award.

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[00:00:00.311]Graphite is a layered material made of carbon.
[00:00:03.806]A single layer of graphite is graphene,
[00:00:06.782]and a narrow strip of the material
[00:00:09.084]is a graphene nanoribbon.
[00:00:11.286]But in the lab of University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:00:13.763]chemist Alexander Sinitskii,
[00:00:16.190]a graphene nanoribbon begins with a single molecule.
[00:00:20.395]So instead of starting with a large sheet of graphene
[00:00:23.973]and shrinking it into a narrow ribbon,
[00:00:26.650]we actually start with even smaller building blocks,
[00:00:29.352]single molecules, and we assemble them
[00:00:32.631]to make those ribbons.
[00:00:34.056]Building the nanoribbons on the atomic scale
[00:00:37.035]allows Sinitskii to manipulate them
[00:00:39.412]and study their properties.
[00:00:41.213]For example, one thing we studied recently
[00:00:42.940]is we incorporated nitrogen atoms
[00:00:46.818]in the structure of those graphene nanoribbons.
[00:00:49.520]And as a result, they became catalytically active
[00:00:53.029]in oxygen reduction.
[00:00:55.626]So which is an important reaction,
[00:00:57.453]for example, in fuel cells.
[00:00:59.655]Graphene nanoribbons also have potential
[00:01:01.771]to improve electronics and solar cells.
[00:01:04.734]But there could be many other applications
[00:01:07.046]because once you build the structures
[00:01:09.013]with atomic precision, you can gain many new properties.
[00:01:12.537]Sinitskii earned a prestigious career award
[00:01:15.419]from the National Science Foundation
[00:01:17.185]to pursue his research.
[00:01:19.047]Building like a portfolio of methods
[00:01:21.499]which we can use and gain more and more insight
[00:01:25.022]into how those molecules couple into ribbons.
[00:01:28.696]We will probably start building more complex structures.
[00:01:32.009]And in a few years, we will be able to demonstrate,
[00:01:35.587]say an individual graphene nanoribbon transitor
[00:01:39.365]that would make me very happy.

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Putting Graphene to the Test

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