Ultra-smooth glassy graphene thin films for flexible transparent circuits

Large-area graphene thin films are prized in flexible and transparent devices. We report on a type of glassy graphene that is in an intermediate state between glassy carbon and graphene and that has high crystallinity but curly lattice planes. A polymer-assisted approach is introduced to grow an ultra-smooth (roughness, <0.7 nm) glassy graphene thin film at the inch scale. Owing to the advantages inherited by the glassy graphene thin film from graphene and glassy carbon, the glassy graphene thin film exhibits conductivity, transparency, and flexibility comparable to those of graphene, as well as glassy carbon–like mechanical and chemical stability. Moreover, glassy graphene–based circuits are fabricated using a laser direct writing approach. The circuits are transferred to flexible substrates and are shown to perform reliably. The glassy graphene thin film should stimulate the application of flexible transparent conductive materials in integrated circuits

High power Q-switched thulium doped fibre laser using carbon nanotube polymer composite saturable absorber

We have proposed and demonstrated a Q-switched Thulium doped bre laser (TDFL) with a ‘Yin-Yang’ all- bre cavity scheme based on a combination of nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) and nonlinear ampli ed loop mirror (NALM). Unidirectional lasing operation has been achieved without any intracavity isolator. By using a carbon nanotube polymer composite based saturable absorber (SA), we demonstrated the laser output power of ~197 mW and pulse energy of 1.7 μJ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power from a nanotube polymer composite SA based Q-switched Thulium doped bre laser

Effect of Milling and Annealing on Carbon-Silver System

PMID = 3050177

Investigating the Diameter-Dependent Stability of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

We investigate the long-standing question of whether electrons accelerated at 80 kV are below the knock-on damage threshold for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy is used to directly image the atomic structure of the SWNTs and provides in situ monitoring of the structural modification induced by electron beam irradiation at 80 kV. We find that SWNTs with small diameters of 1 nm are damaged by the electron beam, and defects are produced in the side walls that can lead to their destruction. SWNTs with diameters of 1.3 nm and larger are more stable against degradation, and stability increases with diameter. The effect of diameter, defects, and exterior contamination on the inherent stability of SWNTs under electron beam irradiation is investigated

Negative Electro-conductance in Suspended 2D WS2 Nanoscale Devices.

We study the in situ electro-conductance in nanoscale electronic devices composed of suspended monolayer WS2 with metal electrodes inside an aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope. Monitoring the conductance changes when the device is exposed to the electron beam of 80 keV energy reveals a reversible decrease in conductivity with increasing beam current density. The response time of the electro-conductance when exposed to the electron beam is substantially faster than the recovery time when the beam is turned off. We propose a charge trap model that accounts for excitation of electrons into the conduction band and localized trap states from energy supplied by inelastic scattering of incident 80 keV electrons. These results show how monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide 2D semiconductors can be used as transparent direct electron detectors in ultrathin nanoscale devices

Nanosized Carbon Black Combined with Ni2O3 as "Universal" Catalysts for Synergistically Catalyzing Carbonization of Polyolefin Wastes to Synthesize Carbon Nanotubes and Application for Supercapacitors

The catalytic carbonization of polyolefin materials to synthesize carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is a promising strategy for the processing and recycling of plastic wastes, but this approach is generally limited due to the selectivity of catalysts and the difficulties in separating the polyolefin mixture. In this study, the influence of nanosized carbon black (CB) and Ni2O 3 as a novel combined catalyst system on catalyzing carbonization of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS) and their blends was investigated. We showed that this combination was efficient to promote the carbonization of these polymers to produce CNTs with high yields and of good quality. Catalytic pyrolysis and model carbonization experiments indicated that the carbonization mechanism was attributed to the synergistic effect of the combined catalysts rendered by CB and Ni2O3: CB catalyzed the degradation of PP, PE, and PS to selectively produce more aromatic compounds, which were subsequently dehydrogenated and reassembled into CNTs via the catalytic action of CB together with Ni particles. Moreover, the performance of the synthesized CNTs as the electrode of supercapacitor was investigated the supercapacitor displayed a high specific capacitance as compared to supercapacitors using commercial CNTs and CB. This difference was attributed to the relatively larger specific surface areas of our synthetic CNTs and their more oxygen-containing groups. © 2014 American Chemical Society.120221sciescopu

Room Temperature in Situ Growth of B/BOx Nanowires and BOx Nanotubes

Despite significant advances in the synthesis of nanostructures, our understanding of the growth mechanisms of nanowires and nanotubes grown from catalyst particles remains limited. In this study we demonstrate a straightforward route to grow coaxial amorphous B/BOx nanowires and BOx nanotubes using gold catalyst particles inside a transmission electron microscope at room temperature without the need of any specialized or expensive accessories. Exceedingly high growth rates (over 7 μm/min) are found for the coaxial nanowires, and this is attributed to the highly efficient diffusion of B species along the surface of a nanowire by electrostatic repulsion. On the other hand the O species are shown to be relevant to activate the gold catalysts, and this can occur through volatile O species. The technique could be further developed to study the growth of other nanostructures and holds promise for the room temperature growth of nanostructures as a whole. © 2014 American Chemical Society.1661sciescopu