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Graphene-based gadgets may be just years away
May 01, 2008Researchers at The University of Manchester have produced tiny liquid crystal devices with electrodes made from graphene - an exciting development that could lead to computer and TV displays based on this technology.
Writing in the American Chemical Society's journal Nano Letters, Dr Kostya Novoselov and colleagues from The School of Physics and Astronomy and The School of Computer Science, report on the use of graphene as a transparent conductive coating for electro-optical devices - and show that its high transparency and low resistivity make it ideal for electrodes in liquid crystal devices.
Graphene was discovered at The University of Manchester back in 2004, by Professor Andre Geim FRS and Royal Society Research Fellow Dr Kostya Novoselov. This incredible one-atom-thick gauze of carbon atoms, which resembles chicken wire, has quickly become one of the hottest topics in physics and materials science.
"Graphene is only one atom thick, optically transparent, chemically inert, and an excellent conductor," says Dr Novoselov, from the Manchester research team.
"These properties seem to make this material an excellent candidate for applications in various electro-optical devices that require conducting but transparent thin films. We believe graphene should improve the durability and simplify the technology of potential electronic devices that interact with light."
Prof Geim said: "Transparent conducting films are an essential part of many gadgets including common liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for computers, TVs and mobile phones.
"The underlying technology uses thin metal-oxide films based on indium. But indium is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity and, moreover, its supply is expected to be exhausted within just 10 years.
"Forget about oil - our civilisation will first run out of indium. Scientists have an urgent task on their hands to find new types of conductive transparent films."
The Manchester research team has now demonstrated highly transparent and highly conductive ultra-thin films that can be produced cheaply by 'dissolving' chunks of graphite - an abundant natural resource - into graphene and then spraying the suspension onto a glass surface.
The resulting graphene-based films can be used in LCDs and, to prove the concept, the research team have demonstrated the first liquid crystal devices with graphene electrodes.
Dr Novoselov believes that there are only a few small, incremental steps remain for this technology to reach a mass production stage. "Graphene-based LCD products could appear in shops as soon as in a few years", he adds.
A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany recently reported in Nano Letters how they had used graphene-based films to create transparent electrodes for solar cells (1).
But the German team used a different technology for obtaining graphene films, which involved several extra steps.
The Manchester team says the films they have developed are much simpler to produce, and they can be used not only in LCDs but also in solar cells.
University of Manchester
"Graphene is only one atom thick, optically transparent, chemically inert, and an excellent conductor," says Dr Novoselov, from the Manchester research team.
"These properties seem to make this material an excellent candidate for applications in various electro-optical devices that require conducting but transparent thin films. We believe graphene should improve the durability and simplify the technology of potential electronic devices that interact with light."
Prof Geim said: "Transparent conducting films are an essential part of many gadgets including common liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for computers, TVs and mobile phones.
"The underlying technology uses thin metal-oxide films based on indium. But indium is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity and, moreover, its supply is expected to be exhausted within just 10 years.
"Forget about oil - our civilisation will first run out of indium. Scientists have an urgent task on their hands to find new types of conductive transparent films."
The Manchester research team has now demonstrated highly transparent and highly conductive ultra-thin films that can be produced cheaply by 'dissolving' chunks of graphite - an abundant natural resource - into graphene and then spraying the suspension onto a glass surface.
The resulting graphene-based films can be used in LCDs and, to prove the concept, the research team have demonstrated the first liquid crystal devices with graphene electrodes.
Dr Novoselov believes that there are only a few small, incremental steps remain for this technology to reach a mass production stage. "Graphene-based LCD products could appear in shops as soon as in a few years", he adds.
A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany recently reported in Nano Letters how they had used graphene-based films to create transparent electrodes for solar cells (1).
But the German team used a different technology for obtaining graphene films, which involved several extra steps.
The Manchester team says the films they have developed are much simpler to produce, and they can be used not only in LCDs but also in solar cells.
University of Manchester
Graphene Current Events and Graphene News RSSNew study confirms exotic electric properties of graphene
First, it was the soccer-ball-shaped molecules dubbed buckyballs. Then it was the cylindrically shaped nanotubes. Now, the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: a remarkably flat molecule made of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings much like molecular chicken wire.
Rutgers physicists discover novel electronic properties in two-dimensional carbon structure
Rutgers researchers have discovered novel electronic properties in two-dimensional sheets of carbon atoms called graphene that could one day be the heart of speedy and powerful electronic devices.
Growing geodesic carbon nanodomes
Researchers analyzing the assembly of graphene (sheets of carbon only one atom thick) on a surface of iridium have found that the sheets grow by first forming tiny carbon domes.
Graphite mimics iron's magnetism
Researchers of Eindhoven University of Technology and the Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands show for the first time why ordinary graphite is a permanent magnet at room temperature.
raGraphene and gallium arsenide: two perfect partners find each other
It is the marriage of two top candidates for the electronics of the future, both excentric and extremely interesting: Graphene, one of the partners, is an extremely thin fellow and besides, very young.
Carbon nanotubes could make efficient solar cells
Using a carbon nanotube instead of traditional silicon, Cornell researchers have created the basic elements of a solar cell that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting light to electricity than now used in calculators and on rooftops.
Researchers design new graphene-based, nano-material with magnetic properties
An international team of researchers has designed a new graphite-based, magnetic nano-material that acts as a semiconductor and could help material scientists create the next generation of electronic devices like microchips.
Camera flash turns an insulating material into a conductor
An insulator can now be transformed to conduct electricity by an ordinary camera flash.
From graphene to graphane, now the possibilities are endless
Ever since graphene was discovered in 2004, this one-atom thick, super strong, carbon-based electrical conductor has been billed as a "wonder material" that some physicists think could one day replace silicon in computer chips.
UCR scientists manipulate ripples in graphene, enabling strain-based graphene electronics
Graphene is nature's thinnest elastic material and displays exceptional mechanical and electronic properties.
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