Yong P. Chen

Graphene segregated on Ni surfaces and transferred to insulators

We report an approach to synthesize high quality graphene by surface segregation and substrate transfer. Graphene was segregated from Ni surface under the ambient pressure by dissolving carbon in Ni at high temperatures followed by cooling down with various rates. Different cooling rates led to different segregation behaviors, strongly affecting the thickness and quality of the graphene films. Electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy indicated that the graphene films synthesized with medium cooling rates have high quality crystalline structure and well-controlled thicknesses. The graphene films were transferred to insulating substrates by wet etching and found to maintain their high quality.

Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Rectification in Graphene Nanoribbons: A Molecular Dynamics Study

We have used molecular dynamics to calculate the thermal conductivity of symmetric and asymmetric graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) of several nanometers in size (up to approximately 4 nm wide and approximately 10 nm long). For symmetric nanoribbons, the calculated thermal conductivity (e.g., approximately 2000 W/m-K at 400 K for a 1.5 nm x 5.7 nm zigzag GNR) is on the similar order of magnitude of the experimentally measured value for graphene. We have investigated the effects of edge chirality and found that nanoribbons with zigzag edges have appreciably larger thermal conductivity than nanoribbons with armchair edges. For asymmetric nanoribbons, we have found significant thermal rectification. Among various triangularly shaped GNRs we investigated, the GNR with armchair bottom edge and a vertex angle of 30 degrees gives the maximal thermal rectification. We also studied the effect of defects and found that vacancies and edge roughness in the nanoribbons can significantly decrease the thermal conductivity. However, substantial thermal rectification is observed even in the presence of edge roughness.

Electrically tunable damping of plasmonic resonances with graphene.

Dynamic switching of a plasmonic resonance may find numerous applications in subwavelength optoelectronics, spectroscopy, and sensing. Graphene shows a highly tunable carrier concentration under electrostatic gating, and this could provide an effective route to achieving electrical control of the plasmonic resonance. In this Letter, we demonstrate electrical control of a plasmonic resonance at infrared frequencies using large-area graphene. Plasmonic structures fabricated on graphene enhance the interaction of the incident optical field with the graphene sheet, and the impact of graphene is much stronger at mid-infrared wavelengths. Full-wave simulations, where graphene is modeled as a 1 nm thick effective medium, show excellent agreement with experimental results.

Polycrystalline graphene and other two-dimensional materials

Graphene, a single atomic layer of graphitic carbon, has attracted intense attention because of its extraordinary properties that make it a suitable material for a wide range of technological applications. Large-area graphene films, which are necessary for industrial applications, are typically polycrystalline - that is, composed of single-crystalline grains of varying orientation joined by grain boundaries. Here, we present a review of the large body of research reported in the past few years on polycrystalline graphene. We discuss its growth and formation, the microscopic structure of grain boundaries and their relations to other types of topological defect such as dislocations. The Review further covers electronic transport, optical and mechanical properties pertaining to the characterizations of grain boundaries, and applications of polycrystalline graphene. We also discuss research, still in its infancy, performed on other two-dimensional materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides, and offer perspectives for future directions of research.

Rational synthesis of ultrathin n-type Bi2Te3 nanowires with enhanced thermoelectric properties.

A rational yet scalable solution phase method has been established, for the first time, to obtain n-type Bi(2)Te(3) ultrathin nanowires with an average diameter of 8 nm in high yield (up to 93%). Thermoelectric properties of bulk pellets fabricated by compressing the nanowire powder through spark plasma sintering have been investigated. Compared to the current commercial n-type Bi(2)Te(3)-based bulk materials, our nanowire devices exhibit an enhanced ZT of 0.96 peaked at 380 K due to a significant reduction of thermal conductivity derived from phonon scattering at the nanoscale interfaces in the bulk pellets, which corresponds to a 13% enhancement compared to that of the best n-type commercial Bi(2)Te(2.7)Se(0.3) single crystals (~0.85) and is comparable to the best reported result of n-type Bi(2)Te(2.7)Se(0.3) sample (ZT = 1.04) fabricated by the hot pressing of ball-milled powder. The uniformity and high yield of the nanowires provide a promising route to make significant contributions to the manufacture of nanotechnology-based thermoelectric power generation and solid-state cooling devices with superior performance in a reliable and a reproducible way.

Electronic transport in chemical vapor deposited graphene synthesized on Cu: Quantum Hall effect and weak localization

We report on electronic properties of graphene synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper then transferred to SiO2/Si. Wafer-scale (up to 4 in.) graphene films have been synthesized, consisting dominantly of monolayer graphene as indicated by spectroscopic Raman mapping. Low temperature transport measurements are performed on microdevices fabricated from such CVD graphene, displaying ambipolar field effect (with on/off ratio ∼5 and carrier mobilities up to ∼3000 cm2/V s) and “half-integer” quantum Hall effect, a hall-mark of intrinsic electronic properties of monolayer graphene. We also observe weak localization and extract information about phase coherence and scattering of carriers.

Atomic force microscope local oxidation nanolithography of graphene

We demonstrate the local oxidation nanopatterning of graphene films by an atomic force microscope. The technique provides a method to form insulating trenches in graphene flakes and to fabricate nanodevices with sub-nanometer precision. We demonstrate fabrication of a 25-nm-wide nanoribbon and submicron size nanoring from a graphene flake. We also found that we can write either trenches or bumps on the graphene surface depending on the lithography conditions. We attribute the bumps to partial oxidation of the surface and incorporation of oxygen into the graphene lattice.

Growth of Single Crystal Graphene Arrays by Locally Controlling Nucleation on Polycrystalline Cu Using Chemical Vapor Deposition

Graphene, a single atomic layer of hexagonally packed carbon atoms, has drawn signifi cant attention with its outstanding electrical, [ 1 ] mechanical, [ 2 , 3 ] and chemical properties. [ 4 , 5 ] Various promising applications based on graphene have been demonstrated, such as in electronics, [ 6 , 7 ] optoelectronics, [ 8 , 9 ] and chemical and biological sensing. [ 10–12 ] To further envision graphene technology, it is critical to synthesize high-quality graphene on a large scale. Since the fi rst mechanical isolation of graphene from graphite crystal in 2004, [ 13 ] intense efforts have been made to develop methods for graphene synthesis, including reduction of graphene oxide, [ 14 ] thermal decomposition of SiC, [ 15 , 16 ]

Nontoxic and Abundant Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide Nanocrystals for Potential High-Temperature Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting

Improving energy/fuel efficiency by converting waste heat into electricity using thermoelectric materials is of great interest due to its simplicity and reliability. However, many thermoelectric materials are composed of either toxic or scarce elements. Here, we report the experimental realization of using nontoxic and abundant copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) nanocrystals for potential thermoelectric applications. The CZTS nanocrystals can be synthesized in large quantities from solution phase reaction and compressed into robust bulk pellets through spark plasma sintering and hot press while still maintaining nanoscale grain size inside. Electrical and thermal measurements have been performed from 300 to 700 K to understand the electron and phonon transports. Extra copper doping during the nanocrystal synthesis introduces a significant improvement in the performance.

Tuning the thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons by edge passivation and isotope engineering: A molecular dynamics study

Using classical molecular dynamics simulation, we have studied the effect of edge-passivation by hydrogen (H-passivation) and isotope mixture (with random or superlattice distributions) on the thermal conductivity of rectangular graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) (of several nanometers in size). We find that the thermal conductivity is considerably reduced by the edge H-passivation. We also find that the isotope mixing can reduce the thermal conductivities, with the superlattice distribution giving rise to more reduction than the random distribution. These results can be useful in nanoscale engineering of thermal transport and heat management using GNRs.