Showing papers by "Konstantin S. Novoselov published in 2016"

Wafer-Scale and Wrinkle-Free Epitaxial Growth of Single-Orientated Multilayer Hexagonal Boron Nitride on Sapphire

Abstract: Large-scale growth of high-quality hexagonal boron nitride has been a challenge in two-dimensional-material-based electronics. Herein, we present wafer-scale and wrinkle-free epitaxial growth of multilayer hexagonal boron nitride on a sapphire substrate by using high-temperature and low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. Microscopic and spectroscopic investigations and theoretical calculations reveal that synthesized hexagonal boron nitride has a single rotational orientation with AA′ stacking order. A facile method for transferring hexagonal boron nitride onto other target substrates was developed, which provides the opportunity for using hexagonal boron nitride as a substrate in practical electronic circuits. A graphene field effect transistor fabricated on our hexagonal boron nitride sheets shows clear quantum oscillation and highly improved carrier mobility because the ultraflatness of the hexagonal boron nitride surface can reduce the substrate-induced degradation of the carrier mobility of two-dime...

Purity of graphene oxide determines its antibacterial activity

Abstract: Nanomaterials based on two-dimensional (2D) atomic crystals are considered to be very promising for various life-science and medical applications, from drug delivery to tissue modification. One of the most suitable materials for these purposes is graphene oxide (GO), thanks to a well-developed methods of production and water solubility. At the same time, its biological effect is still debated. Here we demonstrate that highly purified and thoroughly washed GO neither inhibited nor stimulated the growth of E.coli, ATCC25922; E.coli NCIMB11943 and S.aureus ATCC25923 at concentrations of up to 1 mg ml−1. Moreover, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of GO exposed bacteria did not reveal any differences between GO exposed and not exposed populations. In contrast, a suspension of insufficiently purified GO behaved as an antibacterial material due to the presence of soluble acidic impurities, that could be removed by extended purification or neutralisation by alkaline substrates. A standardised protocol is proposed for the generation of clean GO, so it becomes suitable for biological experiments. Our findings emphasise the importance of GO purification status when dealing with biological systems as the true effect of material can be masked by the impact of impurities.

Electrostatically Confined Monolayer Graphene Quantum Dots with Orbital and Valley Splittings

Abstract: The electrostatic confinement of massless charge carriers is hampered by Klein tunneling. Circumventing this problem in graphene mainly relies on carving out nanostructures or applying electric displacement fields to open a band gap in bilayer graphene. So far, these approaches suffer from edge disorder or insufficiently controlled localization of electrons. Here we realize an alternative strategy in monolayer graphene, by combining a homogeneous magnetic field and electrostatic confinement. Using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, we induce a confining potential in the Landau gaps of bulk graphene without the need for physical edges. Gating the localized states toward the Fermi energy leads to regular charging sequences with more than 40 Coulomb peaks exhibiting typical addition energies of 7–20 meV. Orbital splittings of 4–10 meV and a valley splitting of about 3 meV for the first orbital state can be deduced. These experimental observations are quantitatively reproduced by tight binding calcul...

Gain modulation by graphene plasmons in aperiodic lattice lasers

Abstract: Two-dimensional graphene plasmon-based technologies will enable the development of fast, compact, and inexpensive active photonic elements because, unlike plasmons in other materials, graphene plasmons can be tuned via the doping level. Such tuning is harnessed within terahertz quantum cascade lasers to reversibly alter their emission. This is achieved in two key steps: first, by exciting graphene plasmons within an aperiodic lattice laser and, second, by engineering photon lifetimes, linking graphene's Fermi energy with the round-trip gain. Modal gain and hence laser spectra are highly sensitive to the doping of an integrated, electrically controllable, graphene layer. Demonstration of the integrated graphene plasmon laser principle lays the foundation for a new generation of active, programmable plasmonic metamaterials with major implications across photonics, material sciences, and nanotechnology.

Electrically pumped single-defect light emitters in WSe 2

Abstract: Recent developments in fabrication of van der Waals heterostructures enable new type of devices assembled by stacking atomically thin layers of two-dimensional materials. Using this approach, we fabricate light-emitting devices based on a monolayer WSe$_2$, and also comprising boron nitride tunnelling barriers and graphene electrodes, and observe sharp luminescence spectra from individual defects in WSe$_2$ under both optical and electrical excitation. This paves the way towards the realization of electrically-pumped quantum emitters in atomically thin semiconductors. In addition we demonstrate tuning by more than 1 meV of the emission energy of the defect luminescence by applying a vertical electric field. This provides an estimate of the permanent electric dipole created by the corresponding electron-hole pair. The light-emitting devices investigated in our work can be assembled on a variety of substrates enabling a route to integration of electrically pumped single quantum emitters with existing technologies in nano-photonics and optoelectronics.

High thermal conductivity of hexagonal boron nitride laminates

Abstract: Two-dimensional materials are characterised by a number of unique physical properties which can potentially make them useful to a wide diversity of applications. In particular, the large thermal conductivity of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has already been acknowledged and these materials have been suggested as novel core materials for thermal management in electronics. However, it was not clear if mass produced flakes of hBN would allow one to achieve an industrially-relevant value of thermal conductivity. Here we demonstrate that laminates of hBN exhibit thermal conductivity of up to 20 W/mK, which is significantly larger than that currently used in thermal management. We also show that the thermal conductivity of laminates increases with the increasing volumetric mass density, which creates a way of fine tuning its thermal properties.

Graphene radio frequency and microwave passive components for low cost wearable electronics

Abstract: Graphene RF and microwave passive components such as coplanar waveguide transmission lines, open/short-circuited resonators and wideband antenna on paper substrate were designed, screen printed and characterized in this work. The experimental results demonstrate that the screen printed graphene passive components can be used for RF signal transmitting, processing and radiating/receiving; revealing that graphene ink can be a low cost alternative to much more expensive metal nanoparticle inks, such as silver nanoparticle ink. The screen printed graphene is processed at low temperature so that it is compatible with heat-sensitive flexible materials like papers, PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) and textiles. The screen printed graphene passive components reported here are of high conductivity, high flexibility, light weight and low cost, making them ideal candidate for low cost wearable electronics. This work makes it prospective to manufacture RF and microwave passive components in mass production by screen printing in much lower cost to any other known techniques.

Mechanical Stability of Flexible Graphene-Based Displays.

Abstract: The mechanical behavior of a prototype touch panel display, which consists of two layers of CVD graphene embedded into PET films, is investigated in tension and under contact-stress dynamic loading. In both cases, laser Raman spectroscopy was employed to assess the stress transfer efficiency of the embedded graphene layers. The tensile behavior was found to be governed by the “island-like” microstructure of the CVD graphene, and the stress transfer efficiency was dependent on the size of graphene “islands” but also on the yielding behavior of PET at relatively high strains. Finally, the fatigue tests, which simulate real operation conditions, showed that the maximum temperature gradient developed at the point of “finger” contact after 80 000 cycles does not exceed the glass transition temperature of the PET matrix. The effect of these results on future product development and the design of new graphene-based displays are discussed.

Non-destructive electron microscopy imaging and analysis of biological samples with graphene coating

Abstract: In electron microscopy (EM), charging of non-conductive biological samples by focused electron beams hinders their high-resolution imaging. Gold or platinum coatings have been commonly used to prevent such sample charging, but it disables further quantitative and qualitative chemical analyses such as energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Here we report that graphene-coating on biological samples enables non-destructive high-resolution imaging by EM as well as chemical analysis by EDS, utilizing graphene's transparency to electron beams, high conductivity, outstanding mechanical strength and flexibility. We believe that the graphene-coated imaging and analysis would provide us a new opportunity to explore various biological phenomena unseen before due to the limitation in sample preparation and image resolution, which will broaden our understanding on the life mechanism of various living organisms.

Light extraction from 2D materials using liquid formed micro-lenses

Abstract: The recent discovery of semiconducting two-dimensional materials has led to the prediction of a revolution in the field of optoelectronics, driven by the introduction of a series of new components that are just a few atoms thick. Key remaining challenges for producing practical devices from these materials lie in improving the coupling of light into and out of single atomic layers, and in making these layers robust to the influence of their surrounding environment. We present a solution to tackle both of these problems simultaneously, by deterministically placing a micro-lens directly onto the surface of these materials. These lenses are dynamically tuned to increase the coupling of light, whilst controlling chromatic aberration, before being set in place with UV light. We show that this approach enhances photoluminescence of tungsten diselenide (WSe2) monolayers by up to 300%, and nearly doubles the imaging resolution of the system. Furthermore, this solution fully encapsulates the monolayer, preventing it from physical damage and degradation in air. The optical solution we have developed could become a key enabling technology for the mass production of ultra-thin optical devices, such as quantum light emitting diodes.