Tuning the electronic transport properties of graphene through functionalisation with fluorine

Engineering the electronic properties of graphene has triggered great interest for potential applications in electronics and opto-electronics. Here we demonstrate the possibility to tune the electronic transport properties of graphene monolayers and multilayers by functionalisation with fluorine. We show that by adjusting the fluorine content different electronic transport regimes can be accessed. For monolayer samples, with increasing the fluorine content, we observe a transition from electronic transport through Mott variable range hopping in two dimensions to Efros - Shklovskii variable range hopping. Multilayer fluorinated graphene with high concentration of fluorine show two-dimensional Mott variable range hopping transport, whereas CF0.28 multilayer flakes have a band gap of 0.25eV and exhibit thermally activated transport. Our experimental findings demonstrate that the ability to control the degree of functionalisation of graphene is instrumental to engineer different electronic properties in graphene materials.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Graph-theoretic criteria for injectivity and unique equilibria in general chemical reaction systems

In this paper we discuss the question of how to decide when a general chemical reaction system is incapable of admitting multiple equilibria, regardless of parameter values such as reaction rate constants, and regardless of the type of chemical kinetics, such as mass-action kinetics, Michaelis-Menten kinetics, etc. Our results relate previously described linear algebraic and graph-theoretic conditions for injectivity of chemical reaction systems. After developing a translation between the two formalisms, we show that a graph-theoretic test developed earlier in the context of systems with mass action kinetics, can be applied to reaction systems with arbitrary kinetics. The test, which is easy to implement algorithmically, and can often be decided without the need for any computation, rules out the possibility of multiple equilibria for the systems in question

Correlation between molecular orbitals and doping dependence of the electrical conductivity in electron-doped Metal-Phthalocyanine compounds

We have performed a comparative study of the electronic properties of six different electron-doped metal phthalocyanine (MPc) compounds (ZnPc, CuPc, NiPc, CoPc, FePc, and MnPc), in which the electron density is controlled by means of potassium intercalation. In spite of the complexity of these systems, we find that the nature of the underlying molecular orbitals produce observable effects in the doping dependence of the electrical conductivity of the materials. For all the MPc's in which the added electrons are expected to occupy orbitals centered on the ligands (ZnPc, CuPc, and NiPc), the doping dependence of the conductivity has an essentially identical shape. This shape is different from that observed in MPc materials in which electrons are also added to orbitals centered on the metal atom (CoPc, FePc, and MnPc). The observed relation between the macroscopic electronic properties of the MPc compounds and the properties of the molecular orbitals of the constituent molecules, clearly indicates the richness of the alkali-doped metal-phthalocyanines as a model class of compounds for the investigation of the electronic properties of molecular systems

Direct observation of a gate tunable band-gap in electrical transport in ABC-trilayer graphene

Few layer graphene systems such as Bernal stacked bilayer and rhombohedral (ABC-) stacked trilayer offer the unique possibility to open an electric field tunable energy gap. To date, this energy gap has been experimentally confirmed in optical spectroscopy. Here we report the first direct observation of the electric field tunable energy gap in electronic transport experiments on doubly gated suspended ABC-trilayer graphene. From a systematic study of the non-linearities in current \textit{versus} voltage characteristics and the temperature dependence of the conductivity we demonstrate that thermally activated transport over the energy-gap dominates the electrical response of these transistors. The estimated values for energy gap from the temperature dependence and from the current voltage characteristics follow the theoretically expected electric field dependence with critical exponent $3/2$. These experiments indicate that high quality few-layer graphene are suitable candidates for exploring novel tunable THz light sources and detectors.Comment: Nano Letters, 2015 just accepted, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b0077

Electronic transport properties of few-layer graphene materials

Since the discovery of graphene -a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice - it was clear that this truly is a unique material system with an unprecedented combination of physical properties. Graphene is the thinnest membrane present in nature -just one atom thick- it is the strongest material, it is transparent and it is a very good conductor with room temperature charge mobilities larger than the typical mobilities found in silicon. The significance played by this new material system is even more apparent when considering that graphene is the thinnest member of a larger family: the few-layer graphene materials. Even though several physical properties are shared between graphene and its few-layers, recent theoretical and experimental advances demonstrate that each specific thickness of few-layer graphene is a material with unique physical properties.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure

Double-gated graphene-based devices

We discuss transport through double gated single and few layer graphene devices. This kind of device configuration has been used to investigate the modulation of the energy band structure through the application of an external perpendicular electric field, a unique property of few layer graphene systems. Here we discuss technological details that are important for the fabrication of top gated structures, based on electron-gun evaporation of SiO$_2$. We perform a statistical study that demonstrates how --contrary to expectations-- the breakdown field of electron-gun evaporated thin SiO$_2$ films is comparable to that of thermally grown oxide layers. We find that a high breakdown field can be achieved in evaporated SiO$_2$ only if the oxide deposition is directly followed by the metallization of the top electrodes, without exposure to air of the SiO$_2$ layer.Comment: Replaced with revised version. To appear on New Journal of Physic

Sheffer sequences, probability distributions and approximation operators

We present a new method to compute formulas for the action on monomials of a generalization of binomial approximation operators of Popoviciu type, or equivalently moments of associated discrete probability distributions with finite support. These quantities are necessary to check the assumptions of the Korovkin Theorem for approximation operators, or equivalently the Feller Theorem for convergence of the probability distributions. Our method unifies and simplifies computations of well-known special cases. It only requires a few basic facts from Umbral Calculus. We illustrate our method to well-known approximation operators and probability distributions, as well as to some recent q-generalizations of the Bernstein approximation operator introduced by Lewanowicz and Wo´zny, Lupa¸s, and Phillips

2D material liquid crystal nanocomposites for optoelectronic and photonic devices

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordWe synthesise, characterise and move toward application of 2D material liquid crystalline nanocomposites for optoelectronic and photonic devices, focussing on those produced using graphene oxide, tungsten disulfide and boron nitride