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Sample records for bilayer graphene blg

  1. Localized plasmons in bilayer graphene nanodisks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Weihua; Xiao, Sanshui; Mortensen, N. Asger

    2016-01-01

    We study localized plasmonic excitations in bilayer graphene (BLG) nanodisks, comparing AA-stacked and AB-stacked BLG and contrasting the results to the case of two monolayers without electronic hybridization. The electrodynamic response of the BLG electron gas is described in terms of a spatially...

  2. Voltage tunable plasmon propagation in dual gated bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farzaneh, Seyed M.; Rakheja, Shaloo

    2017-10-01

    In this paper, we theoretically investigate plasmon propagation characteristics in AB and AA stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) in the presence of energy asymmetry due to an electrostatic field oriented perpendicularly to the plane of the graphene sheet. We first derive the optical conductivity of BLG using the Kubo formalism incorporating energy asymmetry and finite electron scattering. All results are obtained for room temperature (300 K) operation. By solving Maxwell's equations in a dual gate device setup, we obtain the wavevector of propagating plasmon modes in the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) directions at terahertz frequencies. The plasmon wavevector allows us to compare the compression factor, propagation length, and the mode confinement of TE and TM plasmon modes in bilayer and monolayer graphene sheets and also to study the impact of material parameters on plasmon characteristics. Our results show that the energy asymmetry can be harnessed to increase the propagation length of TM plasmons in BLG. AA stacked BLG shows a larger increase in the propagation length than AB stacked BLG; conversely, it is very insensitive to the Fermi level variations. Additionally, the dual gate structure allows independent modulation of the energy asymmetry and the Fermi level in BLG, which is advantageous for reconfiguring plasmon characteristics post device fabrication.

  3. Equilibrium chemical vapor deposition growth of Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Pei; Kim, Sungjin; Chen, Xiao; Einarsson, Erik; Wang, Miao; Song, Yenan; Wang, Hongtao; Chiashi, Shohei; Xiang, Rong; Maruyama, Shigeo

    2014-11-25

    Using ethanol as the carbon source, self-limiting growth of AB-stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) has been achieved on Cu via an equilibrium chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. We found that during this alcohol catalytic CVD (ACCVD) a source-gas pressure range exists to break the self-limitation of monolayer graphene on Cu, and at a certain equilibrium state it prefers to form uniform BLG with a high surface coverage of ∼94% and AB-stacking ratio of nearly 100%. More importantly, once the BLG is completed, this growth shows a self-limiting manner, and an extended ethanol flow time does not result in additional layers. We investigate the mechanism of this equilibrium BLG growth using isotopically labeled (13)C-ethanol and selective surface aryl functionalization, and results reveal that during the equilibrium ACCVD process a continuous substitution of graphene flakes occurs to the as-formed graphene and the BLG growth follows a layer-by-layer epitaxy mechanism. These phenomena are significantly in contrast to those observed for previously reported BLG growth using methane as precursor.

  4. Direct transfer and Raman characterization of twisted graphene bilayer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Othmen, R.; Arezki, H.; Boutchich, M.; Ajlani, H.; Oueslati, M.; Cavanna, A.; Madouri, A.

    2015-01-01

    Twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) is constituted of a two-graphene layer with a mismatch angle θ between the two hexagonal structures. It has recently attracted much attention—thanks to its diverse electronic and optical properties. Here, we study the tBLG fabricated by the direct transfer of graphene monolayer prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) onto another CVD graphene layer remaining attached to the copper foil. We show that high quality and homogeneous tBLG can be obtained by the direct transfer which prevents interface contamination. In this situation, the top graphene layer plays a supporting mechanical role to the bottom graphene layer as confirmed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy measurements. The effect of annealing tBLG was also investigated using micro-Raman spectroscopy. The Raman spectra exhibit a splitting of the G peak as well as a change in the 2D band shape indicating a possible decoupling of the two monolayers. We attribute these changes to the different interactions of the top and bottom layers with the substrate

  5. Quantum transport in bilayer graphene. Fabry-Perot interferences and proximity-induced superconductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Du, Renjun

    2015-01-01

    Bilayer graphene (BLG) p-n junctions made of hBN-BLG-hBN (hexagonal boron nitride) heterostructures enable ballistic transport over long distances. We investigate Fabry-Perot interferences, and detect that the bilayer-like anti-Klein tunneling transits into single-layer-like Klein tunneling when tuning the Fermi level towards the band edges. Furthermore, the proximity-induced superconductivity has been studied in these devices with Al leads.

  6. Adsorption and magnetism of bilayer graphene on the MnO polar surface with oxygen vacancies in the interface: First principles study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ilyasov, Victor V.; Ershov, Igor V.; Popova, Inna G.; Pham, Khang D.; Nguyen, Chuong V.

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we investigate systematically the structural, electronic, magnetic and adsorption properties of Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene on MnO(111) surface terminated by an oxygen atom, as a function of nonstoichiometric composition of the BLG/MnOx(111) interface. For additional functionalization of the BLG/MnOx(111) system, we also studied the adsorption properties of oxygen adsorbed on the BLG/MnOx(111) interface. Our results showed that the BLG is bound to the MnOx(111) substrate by the weak interaction for both spin-up and spin-down. Furthermore, we found that BLG adsorbed on the MnOx(111) substrate with a reduced oxygen symmetry in the interface is accompanied with a downshift of the Fermi level, which identifies the band structure of BLG as a p-type semiconductor. Upon interaction between BLG and MnOx(111) substrate, a forbidden gap of about 350 meV was opened between its bonding and antibonding π bands. A forbidden gap and the local magnetic moments in bilayer graphene can be controlled by changing the oxygen nonstoichometry or by oxygen adsorption. Additionally, magnetism has been predicted in the bilayer graphene adsorbed on the polar MnOx(111) surface with oxygen vacancies in the BLG/MnOx(111) interface, and its nature has also been discussed in this work. These results showed that the adsorption of bilayer graphene on the MnO(111) substrate can be used for developing novel generation of electronic and spintronic devices.

  7. Controllable spin filter composed of ferromagnetic AB-stacking bilayer graphenes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Yong; Liang, Qifeng; Dong, Jinming

    2011-01-01

    The electron's tunneling and spin transport in the normal/ferromagnetic/normal (N/FM/N) AB-stacking bilayer graphene (BLG) junction have been studied using Landauer-Buettiker formula. It is found that the resonant conductance peaks could be split well into spin-up and down ones by the exchange field in its FM barrier, leading to a very large spin polarization. More importantly, if a perpendicular electric field is also applied on the FM barrier, a completely spin-polarized flow can be realized by changing its barrier height, making the N/FM/N AB-stacking BLG junction act as a controllable spin filter. -- Highlights: → A study of spin transport in the ferromagnetic bilayer graphene junctions. → A serious of resonant conductance peaks could appear by tuning the barrier height. → The exchange splitting in FM barrier leads to a large spin polarization P. → P=±1 can be realized if a perpendicular electric field is applied to the FM barrier.

  8. Electron transport in a bilayer graphene/layered superconductor NbSe2 junction: effect of work function difference

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yarimizu, Katsuhide; Tomori, Hikari; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Kanda, Akinobu

    2018-03-01

    We have experimentally studied electron transport in a bilayer graphene (BLG)/layered superconductor NbSe2 junction encapsulated with hexagonal boron nitride. The junction exhibits nonlinear current-voltage characteristics which strongly depend on the gate voltage around the charge neutrality point (CNP) of the BLG. Besides, we observe that the gate voltage dependence of electron transport in the BLG portion close to the junction interface is different from that of the BLG portion apart from the interface, indicating that the spatial variation of the Dirac point in the charge transfer region due to the difference in work function between superconductor and graphene needs to be considered in the analysis of the superconducting proximity effect.

  9. The screening of charged impurities in bilayer graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Wenjing; Li, Lain-Jong

    2010-01-01

    Positively charged impurities were introduced into a bilayer graphene (BLG) transistor by n-doping with dimethylformamide. Subsequent exposure of the BLG device to moisture resulted in a positive shift of the Dirac point and an increase of hole mobility, suggesting that moisture could reduce the scattering strength of the existing charged impurities. In other words, moisture screened off the 'effective density' of charged impurities. At the early stage of moisture screening the scattering of hole carriers is dominated by long-range Coulomb scatter, but an alternative scattering mechanism should also be taken into consideration when the effective density of impurities is further lowered on moisture exposure.

  10. Narrow plasmon resonances enabled by quasi-freestanding bilayer epitaxial graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniels, Kevin M.; Jadidi, M. Mehdi; Sushkov, Andrei B.; Nath, Anindya; Boyd, Anthony K.; Sridhara, Karthik; Drew, H. Dennis; Murphy, Thomas E.; Myers-Ward, Rachael L.; Gaskill, D. Kurt

    2017-06-01

    Exploiting the underdeveloped terahertz range (~1012-1013 Hz) of the electromagnetic spectrum could advance many scientific fields (e.g. medical imaging for the identification of tumors and other biological tissues, non-destructive evaluation of hidden objects or ultra-broadband communication). Despite the benefits of operating in this regime, generation, detection and manipulation have proven difficult, as few materials have functional interactions with THz radiation. In contrast, graphene supports resonances in the THz regime through structural confinement of surface plasmons, which can lead to enhanced absorption. In prior work, the achievable plasmon resonances in such structures have been limited by multiple electron scattering mechanisms (i.e. large carrier scattering rates) which greatly broaden the resonance (>100 cm-1 3 THz). We report the narrowest room temperature Drude response to-date, 30 cm-1 (0.87 THz), obtained using quasi-free standing bilayer epitaxial graphene (QFS BLG) synthesized on (0 0 0 1)6H-SiC. This narrow response is due to a 4-fold increase in carrier mobility and improved thickness and electronic uniformity of QFS BLG. Moreover, QFS BLG samples patterned into microribbons targeting 1.8-5.7 THz plasmon resonances also exhibit low scattering rates (37-53 cm-1). Due to the improved THz properties of QFS BLG, the effects of e-beam processing on carrier scattering rates was determined and we found that fabrication conditions can be tuned to minimize the impact on optoelectronic properties. In addition, electrostatic gating of patterned QFS BLG shows narrow band THz amplitude modulation. Taken together, these properties of QFS BLG should facilitate future development of THz optoelectronic devices for monochromatic applications.

  11. The Tunable Bandgap of AB-Stacked Bilayer Graphene on SiO2 with H2O Molecule Adsorption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Tao; Guo Qing; Liu Yan; Wang Wen-Bo; Sheng Kuang; Ao Zhi-Min; Yu Bin

    2011-01-01

    The atomic and electronic structures of AB-stacking bilayer graphene (BLG) in the presence of H 2 O molecules are investigated by density functional theory calculations. For free-standing BLG, the bandgap is opened to 0.101 eV with a single H 2 O molecule adsorbed on its surface. The perfectly suspended BLG is sensitive to H 2 O adsorbates, which break the BLG lattice symmetry and open an energy gap. While a single H 2 O molecule is adsorbed on the BLG surface with a SiO 2 substrate, the bandgap widens to 0.363 eV. Both the H 2 O molecule adsorption and the oxide substrate contribute to the BLG bandgap opening. The phenomenon is interpreted with the charge transfer process in 2D carbon nanostructures. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)

  12. Transport in bilayer and trilayer graphene: band gap engineering and band structure tuning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Jun

    2014-03-01

    Controlling the stacking order of atomically thin 2D materials offers a powerful tool to control their properties. Linearly dispersed bands become hyperbolic in Bernal (AB) stacked bilayer graphene (BLG). Both Bernal (ABA) and rhombohedral (ABC) stacking occur in trilayer graphene (TLG), producing distinct band structures and electronic properties. A symmetry-breaking electric field perpendicular to the sample plane can further modify the band structures of BLG and TLG. In this talk, I will describe our experimental effort in these directions using dual-gated devices. Using thin HfO2 film deposited by ALD as gate dielectric, we are able to apply large displacement fields D > 6 V/nm and observe the opening and saturation of the field-induced band gap Eg in bilayer and ABC-stacked trilayer graphene, where the conduction in the mid gap changes by more than six decades. Its field and temperature dependence highlights the crucial role played by Coulomb disorder in facilitating hopping conduction and suppressing the effect of Eg in the tens of meV regime. In contrast, mid-gap conduction decreases with increasing D much more rapidly in clean h-BN dual-gated devices. Our studies also show the evolution of the band structure in ABA-stacked TLG, in particular the splitting of the Dirac-like bands in large D field and the signatures of two-band transport at high carrier densities. Comparison to theory reveals the need for more sophisticated treatment of electronic screening beyond self-consistent Hartree calculations to accurately predict the band structures of trilayer graphene and graphenic materials in general.

  13. Chirality effect on electron phonon relaxation, energy loss, and thermopower in single and bilayer graphene in BG regime

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ansari, Meenhaz; Ashraf, S. S. Z.

    2017-10-01

    We investigate the energy dependent electron-phonon relaxation rate, energy loss rate, and phonon drag thermopower in single layer graphene (SLG) and bilayer graphene (BLG) under the Bloch-Gruneisen (BG) regime through coupling to acoustic phonons interacting via the Deformation potential in the Boltzmann transport equation approach. We find that the consideration of the chiral nature of electrons alters the temperature dependencies in two-dimensional structures of SLG and BLG from that shown by other conventional 2DEG system. Our investigations indicate that the BG analytical results are valid for temperatures far below the BG limit (˜TBG/4) which is in conformity with a recent experimental investigation for SLG [C. B. McKitterick et al., Phys. Rev. B 93, 075410 (2016)]. For temperatures above this renewed limit (˜TBG/4), there is observed a suppression in energy loss rate and thermo power in SLG, but enhancement is observed in relaxation rate and thermopower in BLG, while a suppression in the energy loss rate is observed in BLG. This strong nonmonotonic temperature dependence in SLG has also been experimentally observed within the BG limit [Q. Ma et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 247401 (2014)].

  14. Doping and band gap control at poly(vinylidene fluoride)/graphene interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Jia; Wang, Jian-Lu; Gao, Heng; Tian, Bobo; Gong, Shi-Jing; Duan, Chun-Gang; Chu, Jun-Hao

    2018-05-01

    Using the density-functional first-principles calculations, we investigate the electronic structures of poly(vinylidene fluoride) PVDF/graphene composite systems. The n- and p-doping of graphene can be flexibly switched by reversing the ferroelectric polarization of PVDF, without scarifying the intrinsic π-electron band dispersions of graphene that are usually undermined by chemical doping. The doping degree is also dependent on the thickness of PVDF layers, which will get saturated when PVDF is thick enough. In PVDF/bilayer graphene (BLG) heterostructure, the doping degree directly determines the local energy gap of the charged BLG. The sandwich structure of PVDF/BLG/PVDF can further enhance the local energy gap as well as keep the electric neutrality of BLG, which will be of great application potentials in graphene-based nanoelectronics.

  15. Tunneling Plasmonics in Bilayer Graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fei, Z; Iwinski, E G; Ni, G X; Zhang, L M; Bao, W; Rodin, A S; Lee, Y; Wagner, M; Liu, M K; Dai, S; Goldflam, M D; Thiemens, M; Keilmann, F; Lau, C N; Castro-Neto, A H; Fogler, M M; Basov, D N

    2015-08-12

    We report experimental signatures of plasmonic effects due to electron tunneling between adjacent graphene layers. At subnanometer separation, such layers can form either a strongly coupled bilayer graphene with a Bernal stacking or a weakly coupled double-layer graphene with a random stacking order. Effects due to interlayer tunneling dominate in the former case but are negligible in the latter. We found through infrared nanoimaging that bilayer graphene supports plasmons with a higher degree of confinement compared to single- and double-layer graphene, a direct consequence of interlayer tunneling. Moreover, we were able to shut off plasmons in bilayer graphene through gating within a wide voltage range. Theoretical modeling indicates that such a plasmon-off region is directly linked to a gapped insulating state of bilayer graphene, yet another implication of interlayer tunneling. Our work uncovers essential plasmonic properties in bilayer graphene and suggests a possibility to achieve novel plasmonic functionalities in graphene few-layers.

  16. Potassium-doped n-type bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Takatoshi; Okigawa, Yuki; Hasegawa, Masataka

    2018-01-01

    Potassium-doped n-type bilayer graphene was obtained. Chemical vapor deposited bilayer and single layer graphene on copper (Cu) foils were used. After etching of Cu foils, graphene was dipped in potassium hydroxide aqueous solutions to dope potassium. Graphene on silicon oxide was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Raman spectroscopy. Both XPS and EDX spectra indicated potassium incorporation into the bilayer graphene via intercalation between the graphene sheets. The downward shift of the 2D peak position of bilayer graphene after the potassium hydroxide (KOH) treatment was confirmed in Raman spectra, indicating that the KOH-treated bilayer graphene was doped with electrons. Electrical properties were measured using Hall bar structures. The Dirac points of bilayer graphene were shifted from positive to negative by the KOH treatment, indicating that the KOH-treated bilayer graphene was n-type conduction. For single layer graphene after the KOH treatment, although electron doping was confirmed from Raman spectra, the peak of potassium in the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectrum was not detected. The Dirac points of single layer graphene with and without the KOH treatment showed positive.

  17. Molecular dynamics study on the relaxation properties of bilayered ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2017-08-31

    Aug 31, 2017 ... Abstract. The influence of defects on the relaxation properties of bilayered graphene (BLG) has been studied by molecular dynamics simulation in nanometre sizes. Type and position of defects were taken into account in the calculated model. The results show that great changes begin to occur in the ...

  18. Electronic properties of graphene-based bilayer systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rozhkov, A.V., E-mail: arozhkov@gmail.com [CEMS, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Institute for Theoretical and Applied Electrodynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 125412 Moscow (Russian Federation); Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, 141700 (Russian Federation); Sboychakov, A.O. [CEMS, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Institute for Theoretical and Applied Electrodynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 125412 Moscow (Russian Federation); Rakhmanov, A.L. [CEMS, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Institute for Theoretical and Applied Electrodynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 125412 Moscow (Russian Federation); Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, 141700 (Russian Federation); All-Russia Research Institute of Automatics, Moscow, 127055 (Russian Federation); Nori, Franco, E-mail: fnori@riken.jp [CEMS, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Physics Department, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1040 (United States)

    2016-08-23

    This article reviews the theoretical and experimental work related to the electronic properties of bilayer graphene systems. Three types of bilayer stackings are discussed: the AA, AB, and twisted bilayer graphene. This review covers single-electron properties, effects of static electric and magnetic fields, bilayer-based mesoscopic systems, spin–orbit coupling, dc transport and optical response, as well as spontaneous symmetry violation and other interaction effects. The selection of the material aims to introduce the reader to the most commonly studied topics of theoretical and experimental research in bilayer graphene.

  19. Transfer matrix theory of monolayer graphene/bilayer graphene heterostructure superlattice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Yu

    2014-01-01

    We have formulated a transfer matrix method to investigate electronic properties of graphene heterostructure consisting of monolayer graphene and bilayer counterpart. By evaluating transmission, conductance, and band dispersion, we show that, irrespective of the different carrier chiralities in monolayer graphene and bilayer graphene, superlattice consisting of biased bilayer graphene barrier and monolayer graphene well can mimic the electronic properties of conventional semiconductor superlattice, displaying the extended subbands in the quantum tunneling regime and producing anisotropic minigaps for the classically allowed transport. Due to the lateral confinement, the lowest mode has shifted away from the charge neutral point of monolayer graphene component, opening a sizeable gap in concerned structure. Following the gate-field and geometry modulation, all electronic states and gaps between them can be externally engineered in an electric-controllable strategy.

  20. Fabrication of Li-intercalated bilayer graphene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Sugawara

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available We have succeeded in fabricating Li-intercalated bilayer graphene on silicon carbide. The low-energy electron diffraction from Li-deposited bilayer graphene shows a sharp 3×3R30° pattern in contrast to Li-deposited monolayer graphene. This indicates that Li atoms are intercalated between two adjacent graphene layers and take the same well-ordered superstructure as in bulk C6Li. The angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy has revealed that Li atoms are fully ionized and the π bands of graphene are systematically folded by the superstructure of intercalated Li atoms, producing a snowflake-like Fermi surface centered at the Γ point. The present result suggests a high potential of Li-intercalated bilayer graphene for application to a nano-scale Li-ion battery.

  1. Self-folding graphene-polymer bilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deng, Tao [Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 (United States); Yoon, ChangKyu [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 (United States); Jin, Qianru [Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 (United States); Li, Mingen [Department of Physics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 (United States); Liu, Zewen [Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Gracias, David H., E-mail: dgracias@jhu.edu [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 (United States); Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 (United States)

    2015-05-18

    In order to incorporate the extraordinary intrinsic thermal, electrical, mechanical, and optical properties of graphene with three dimensional (3D) flexible substrates, we introduce a solvent-driven self-folding approach using graphene-polymer bilayers. A polymer (SU-8) film was spin coated atop chemically vapor deposited graphene films on wafer substrates and graphene-polymer bilayers were patterned with or without metal electrodes using photolithography, thin film deposition, and etching. After patterning, the bilayers were released from the substrates and they self-folded to form fully integrated, curved, and folded structures. In contrast to planar graphene sensors on rigid substrates, we assembled curved and folded sensors that are flexible and they feature smaller form factors due to their 3D geometry and large surface areas due to their multiple rolled architectures. We believe that this approach could be used to assemble a range of high performance 3D electronic and optical devices of relevance to sensing, diagnostics, wearables, and energy harvesting.

  2. Transport properties of monolayer and bilayer graphene p-n junctions with charge puddles in the quantum Hall regime

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheng Shuguang

    2010-01-01

    Recent experiments have confirmed that the electron-hole inhomogeneity in graphene is a new type of charge disorder. Motivated by such confirmation, we theoretically study the transport properties of a monolayer graphene (MLG) based p-n junction and a bilayer graphene (BLG) p-n junction in the quantum Hall regime where electron-hole puddles are considered. By using the non-equilibrium Green function method, both the current and conductance are obtained. We find that, in the presence of the electron-hole inhomogeneity, the lowest quantized conductance plateau at e 2 /h emerges in the MLG p-n junction under very small charge puddle disorder strength. For a BLG p-n junction, however, the conductance in the p-n region is enhanced with charge puddles, and the lowest quantized conductance plateau emerges at 2e 2 /h. Besides, when an ideal quantized conductance plateau is formed for a MLG p-n junction, the universal conductance fluctuation is found to be 2e 2 /3h. Furthermore, we also investigate the influence of Anderson disorder on such p-n junctions and the comparison and discussion are given accordingly. To compare the two models with different types of disorder, we investigate the conductance distribution specially. Finally the influence of disorder strength on the conductance of a MLG p-n junction is investigated.

  3. Graphene as transparent and current spreading electrode in silicon solar cell

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Behura, Sanjay K., E-mail: sanjaybehura@gmail.com; Nayak, Sasmita; Jani, Omkar [Solar Energy Research Wing, Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute - Research, Innovation and Incubation Centre, Gandhinagar 382007, Gujarat (India); Mahala, Pramila [School of Solar Energy, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar 382007, Gujarat (India)

    2014-11-15

    Fabricated bi-layer graphene (BLG) has been studied as transparent and current spreading electrode (TCSE) for silicon solar cell, using TCAD-Silvaco 2D simulation. We have carried out comparative study using both Ag grids and BLG as current spreading electrode (CSE) and TCSE, respectively. Our study reveals that BLG based solar cell shows better efficiency of 24.85% than Ag-based cell (21.44%), in all of the critical aspects, including generation rate, recombination rate, electric field, potential and quantum efficiency. Further BLG based cell exhibits pronounce rectifying behavior, low saturation current, and good turn-on voltage while studying in dark.

  4. Transport properties in monolayer-bilayer-monolayer graphene planar junctions

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Kai-Long Chu; Zi-Bo Wang; Jiao-Jiao Zhou; Hua Jiang

    2017-01-01

    The transport study of graphene based junctions has become one of the focuses in graphene research.There are two stacking configurations for monolayer-bilayer-monolayer graphene planar junctions.One is the two monolayer graphene contacting the same side of the bilayer graphene,and the other is the two-monolayer graphene contacting the different layers of the bilayer graphene.In this paper,according to the Landauer-Büttiker formula,we study the transport properties of these two configurations.The influences of the local gate potential in each part,the bias potential in bilayer graphene,the disorder and external magnetic field on conductance are obtained.We find the conductances of the two configurations can be manipulated by all of these effects.Especially,one can distinguish the two stacking configurations by introducing the bias potential into the bilayer graphene.The strong disorder and the external magnetic field will make the two stacking configurations indistinguishable in the transport experiment.

  5. Improvement of Metal-Graphene Ohmic Contact Resistance in Bilayer Epitaxial Graphene Devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Ze-Zhao; Yang Ke-Wu; Yu Cui; Li Jia; Liu Qing-Bin; Lu Wei-Li; Feng Zhi-Hong; Cai Shu-Jun

    2015-01-01

    We report on an improved metal-graphene ohmic contact in bilayer epitaxial graphene on a SiC substrate with contact resistance below 0.1 ω·mm. Monolayer and bilayer epitaxial graphenes are prepared on a 4H-SiC substrate in this work. Their contact resistances are measured by a transfer length method. An improved photoresist-free device fabrication method is used and is compared with the conventional device fabrication method. Compared with the monolayer graphene, the contact resistance R c of bilayer graphene improves from an average of 0.24 ω·mm to 0.1 ω·mm. Ohmic contact formation mechanism analysis by Landauer's approach reveals that the obtained low ohmic contact resistance in bilayer epitaxial graphene is due to their high carrier density, high carrier transmission probability, and p-type doping introduced by contact metal Au. (paper)

  6. Graphene as transparent and current spreading electrode in silicon solar cell

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjay K. Behura

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Fabricated bi-layer graphene (BLG has been studied as transparent and current spreading electrode (TCSE for silicon solar cell, using TCAD-Silvaco 2D simulation. We have carried out comparative study using both Ag grids and BLG as current spreading electrode (CSE and TCSE, respectively. Our study reveals that BLG based solar cell shows better efficiency of 24.85% than Ag-based cell (21.44%, in all of the critical aspects, including generation rate, recombination rate, electric field, potential and quantum efficiency. Further BLG based cell exhibits pronounce rectifying behavior, low saturation current, and good turn-on voltage while studying in dark.

  7. Bilayer graphene: gap tunability and edge properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castro, Eduardo V; Santos, J M B Lopes dos; Peres, N M R; Guinea, F; Castro Neto, A H

    2008-01-01

    Bilayer graphene - two coupled single graphene layers stacked as in graphite - provides the only known semiconductor with a gap that can be tuned externally through electric field effect. Here we use a tight binding approach to study how the gap changes with the applied electric field. Within a parallel plate capacitor model and taking into account screening of the external field, we describe real back gated and/or chemically doped bilayer devices. We show that a gap between zero and midinfrared energies can be induced and externally tuned in these devices, making bilayer graphene very appealing from the point of view of applications. However, applications to nanotechnology require careful treatment of the effect of sample boundaries. This being particularly true in graphene, where the presence of edge states at zero energy - the Fermi level of the undoped system - has been extensively reported. Here we show that also bilayer graphene supports surface states localized at zigzag edges. The presence of two layers, however, allows for a new type of edge state which shows an enhanced penetration into the bulk and gives rise to band crossing phenomenon inside the gap of the biased bilayer system.

  8. Chiral Tunnelling in Twisted Graphene Bilayer

    OpenAIRE

    He, Wen-Yu; Chu, Zhao-Dong; He, Lin

    2013-01-01

    The perfect transmission in graphene monolayer and the perfect reflection in Bernal graphene bilayer for electrons incident in the normal direction of a potential barrier are viewed as two incarnations of the Klein paradox. Here we show a new and unique incarnation of the Klein paradox. Owing to the different chiralities of the quasiparticles involved, the chiral fermions in twisted graphene bilayer shows adjustable probability of chiral tunnelling for normal incidence: they can be changed fr...

  9. Spin transport and relaxation in graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han Wei; McCreary, K.M.; Pi, K.; Wang, W.H.; Li Yan; Wen, H.; Chen, J.R.; Kawakami, R.K.

    2012-01-01

    We review our recent work on spin injection, transport and relaxation in graphene. The spin injection and transport in single layer graphene (SLG) were investigated using nonlocal magnetoresistance (MR) measurements. Spin injection was performed using either transparent contacts (Co/SLG) or tunneling contacts (Co/MgO/SLG). With tunneling contacts, the nonlocal MR was increased by a factor of ∼1000 and the spin injection/detection efficiency was greatly enhanced from ∼1% (transparent contacts) to ∼30%. Spin relaxation was investigated on graphene spin valves using nonlocal Hanle measurements. For transparent contacts, the spin lifetime was in the range of 50-100 ps. The effects of surface chemical doping showed that for spin lifetimes in the order of 100 ps, charged impurity scattering (Au) was not the dominant mechanism for spin relaxation. While using tunneling contacts to suppress the contact-induced spin relaxation, we observed the spin lifetimes as long as 771 ps at room temperature, 1.2 ns at 4 K in SLG, and 6.2 ns at 20 K in bilayer graphene (BLG). Furthermore, contrasting spin relaxation behaviors were observed in SLG and BLG. We found that Elliot-Yafet spin relaxation dominated in SLG at low temperatures whereas Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation dominated in BLG at low temperatures. Gate tunable spin transport was studied using the SLG property of gate tunable conductivity and incorporating different types of contacts (transparent and tunneling contacts). Consistent with theoretical predictions, the nonlocal MR was proportional to the SLG conductivity for transparent contacts and varied inversely with the SLG conductivity for tunneling contacts. Finally, bipolar spin transport in SLG was studied and an electron-hole asymmetry was observed for SLG spin valves with transparent contacts, in which nonlocal MR was roughly independent of DC bias current for electrons, but varied significantly with DC bias current for holes. These results are very important for

  10. Electronic transport of bilayer graphene with asymmetry line defects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao Xiao-Ming; Chen Chan; Liang Ying; Kou Su-Peng; Wu Ya-Jie

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we study the quantum properties of a bilayer graphene with (asymmetry) line defects. The localized states are found around the line defects. Thus, the line defects on one certain layer of the bilayer graphene can lead to an electric transport channel. By adding a bias potential along the direction of the line defects, we calculate the electric conductivity of bilayer graphene with line defects using the Landauer–Büttiker theory, and show that the channel affects the electric conductivity remarkably by comparing the results with those in a perfect bilayer graphene. This one-dimensional line electric channel has the potential to be applied in nanotechnology engineering. (paper)

  11. Experimental and computational investigation of graphene/SAMs/n-Si Schottky diodes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aydin, H.; Bacaksiz, C.; Yagmurcukardes, N.; Karakaya, C.; Mermer, O.; Can, M.; Senger, R. T.; Sahin, H.; Selamet, Y.

    2018-01-01

    We have investigated the effect of two different self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on electrical characteristics of bilayer graphene (BLG)/n-Si Schottky diodes. Novel 4″bis(diphenylamino)-1, 1‧:3″-terphenyl-5‧ carboxylic acids (TPA) and 4,4-di-9H-carbazol-9-yl-1,1‧:3‧1‧-terphenyl-5‧ carboxylic acid (CAR) aromatic SAMs have been used to modify n-Si surfaces. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) results have been evaluated to verify the modification of n-Si surface. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of bare and SAMs modified devices show rectification behaviour verifying a Schottky junction at the interface. The ideality factors (n) from ln(I)-V dependences were determined as 2.13, 1.96 and 2.07 for BLG/n-Si, BLG/TPA/n-Si and BLG/CAR/n-Si Schottky diodes, respectively. In addition, Schottky barrier height (SBH) and series resistance (Rs) of SAMs modified diodes were decreased compared to bare diode due to the formation of a compatible interface between graphene and Si as well as π-π interaction between aromatic SAMs and graphene. The CAR-based device exhibits better diode characteristic compared to the TPA-based device. Computational simulations show that the BLG/CAR system exhibits smaller energy-level-differences than the BLG/TPA, which supports the experimental findings of a lower Schottky barrier and series resistance in BLG/CAR diode.

  12. Edge states in gated bilayer-monolayer graphene ribbons and bilayer domain walls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirzakhani, M.; Zarenia, M.; Peeters, F. M.

    2018-05-01

    Using the effective continuum model, the electron energy spectrum of gated bilayer graphene with a step-like region of decoupled graphene layers at the edge of the sample is studied. Different types of coupled-decoupled interfaces are considered, i.e., zigzag (ZZ) and armchair junctions, which result in significant different propagating states. Two non-valley-polarized conducting edge states are observed for ZZ type, which are mainly located around the ZZ-ended graphene layers. Additionally, we investigated both BA-BA and BA-AB domain walls in the gated bilayer graphene within the continuum approximation. Unlike the BA-BA domain wall, which exhibits gapped insulating behaviour, the domain walls surrounded by different stackings of bilayer regions feature valley-polarized edge states. Our findings are consistent with other theoretical calculations, such as from the tight-binding model and first-principles calculations, and agree with experimental observations.

  13. Chiral tunneling in a twisted graphene bilayer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Wen-Yu; Chu, Zhao-Dong; He, Lin

    2013-08-09

    The perfect transmission in a graphene monolayer and the perfect reflection in a Bernal graphene bilayer for electrons incident in the normal direction of a potential barrier are viewed as two incarnations of the Klein paradox. Here we show a new and unique incarnation of the Klein paradox. Owing to the different chiralities of the quasiparticles involved, the chiral fermions in a twisted graphene bilayer show an adjustable probability of chiral tunneling for normal incidence: they can be changed from perfect tunneling to partial or perfect reflection, or vice versa, by controlling either the height of the barrier or the incident energy. As well as addressing basic physics about how the chiral fermions with different chiralities tunnel through a barrier, our results provide a facile route to tune the electronic properties of the twisted graphene bilayer.

  14. Electronic and Optical Properties of Twisted Bilayer Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Shengqiang

    The ability to isolate single atomic layers of van der Waals materials has led to renewed interest in the electronic and optical properties of these materials as they can be fundamentally different at the monolayer limit. Moreover, these 2D crystals can be assembled together layer by layer, with controllable sequence and orientation, to form artificial materials that exhibit new features that are not found in monolayers nor bulk. Twisted bilayer graphene is one such prototype system formed by two monolayer graphene layers placed on top of each other with a twist angle between their lattices, whose electronic band structure depends on the twist angle. This thesis presents the efforts to explore the electronic and optical properties of twisted bilayer graphene by Raman spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. We first synthesize twisted bilayer graphene with various twist angles via chemical vapor deposition. Using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, the twist angles are determined. The strength of the Raman G peak is sensitive to the electronic band structure of twisted bilayer graphene and therefore we use this peak to monitor changes upon doping. Our results demonstrate the ability to modify the electronic and optical properties of twisted bilayer graphene with doping. We also fabricate twisted bilayer graphene by controllable stacking of two graphene monolayers with a dry transfer technique. For twist angles smaller than one degree, many body interactions play an important role. It requires eight electrons per moire unit cell to fill up each band instead of four electrons in the case of a larger twist angle. For twist angles smaller than 0.4 degree, a network of domain walls separating AB and BA stacking regions forms, which are predicted to host topologically protected helical states. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, these states are confirmed to appear on the domain walls when inversion

  15. Robustly Engineering Thermal Conductivity of Bilayer Graphene by Interlayer Bonding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaoliang; Gao, Yufei; Chen, Yuli; Hu, Ming

    2016-01-01

    Graphene and its bilayer structure are the two-dimensional crystalline form of carbon, whose extraordinary electron mobility and other unique features hold great promise for nanoscale electronics and photonics. Their realistic applications in emerging nanoelectronics usually call for thermal transport manipulation in a controllable and precise manner. In this paper we systematically studied the effect of interlayer covalent bonding, in particular different interlay bonding arrangement, on the thermal conductivity of bilayer graphene using equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. It is revealed that, the thermal conductivity of randomly bonded bilayer graphene decreases monotonically with the increase of interlayer bonding density, however, for the regularly bonded bilayer graphene structure the thermal conductivity possesses unexpectedly non-monotonic dependence on the interlayer bonding density. The results suggest that the thermal conductivity of bilayer graphene depends not only on the interlayer bonding density, but also on the detailed topological configuration of the interlayer bonding. The underlying mechanism for this abnormal phenomenon is identified by means of phonon spectral energy density, participation ratio and mode weight factor analysis. The large tunability of thermal conductivity of bilayer graphene through rational interlayer bonding arrangement paves the way to achieve other desired properties for potential nanoelectronics applications involving graphene layers. PMID:26911859

  16. Anomalous conductivity noise in gapped bilayer graphene heterostructure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aamir, Mohammed Ali; Karnatak, Paritosh; Sai, T. Phanindra; Ghosh, Arindam

    Bilayer graphene has unique electronic properties - it has a tunable band gap and also, valley symmetry and pseudospin degree of freedom like its single layer counterpart. In this work, we present a study of conductance fluctuations in dual gated bilayer graphene heterostructures by varying the Fermi energy and the band gap independently. At a fixed band gap, we find that the conductance fluctuations obtained by Fermi energy ensemble sampling increase rapidly as the Fermi energy is tuned to charge neutrality point (CNP) whereas the time-dependent conductance fluctuations diminish rapidly. This discrepancy is completely absent at higher number densities, where the transport is expected to be through the 2D bulk of the bilayer system. This observation indicates that near the CNP, electrical transport is highly sensitive to Fermi energy, but becomes progressively immune to time-varying disorder. A possible explanation may involve transport via edge states which becomes the dominant conduction mechanism when the bilayer graphene is gapped and Fermi energy is situated close to the CNP, thereby causing a dimensional crossover from 2D to 1D transport. Our experiment outlines a possible experimental protocol to probe intrinsic topological states in gapped bilayer graphene.

  17. Wavepacket revivals in monolayer and bilayer graphene rings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García, Trinidad; Rodríguez-Bolívar, Salvador; Cordero, Nicolás A; Romera, Elvira

    2013-06-12

    We have studied the existence of quantum revivals in graphene quantum rings within a simplified model. The time evolution of a Gaussian-populated wavepacket shows revivals in monolayer and bilayer graphene rings. We have also studied this behavior for quantum rings in a perpendicular magnetic field. We have found that revival time is an observable that shows different values for monolayer and bilayer graphene quantum rings. In addition, the revival time shows valley degeneracy breaking.

  18. Unconventional fractional quantum Hall effect in monolayer and bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacak, Janusz; Jacak, Lucjan

    2016-01-01

    The commensurability condition is applied to determine the hierarchy of fractional fillings of Landau levels in monolayer and in bilayer graphene. The filling rates for fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) in graphene are found in the first three Landau levels in one-to-one agreement with the experimental data. The presence of even denominator filling fractions in the hierarchy for FQHE in bilayer graphene is explained. Experimentally observed hierarchy of FQHE in the first and second Landau levels in monolayer graphene and in the zeroth Landau level in bilayer graphene is beyond the conventional composite fermion interpretation but fits to the presented nonlocal topology commensurability condition. PMID:27877866

  19. Wavepacket revivals in monolayer and bilayer graphene rings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    García, Trinidad; Rodríguez-Bolívar, Salvador; Cordero, Nicolás A; Romera, Elvira

    2013-01-01

    We have studied the existence of quantum revivals in graphene quantum rings within a simplified model. The time evolution of a Gaussian-populated wavepacket shows revivals in monolayer and bilayer graphene rings. We have also studied this behavior for quantum rings in a perpendicular magnetic field. We have found that revival time is an observable that shows different values for monolayer and bilayer graphene quantum rings. In addition, the revival time shows valley degeneracy breaking. (paper)

  20. A simple method to tune graphene growth between monolayer and bilayer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaozhi Xu

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Selective growth of either monolayer or bilayer graphene is of great importance. We developed a method to readily tune large area graphene growth from complete monolayer to complete bilayer. In an ambient pressure chemical vapor deposition process, we used the sample temperature at which to start the H2 flow as the control parameter and realized the change from monolayer to bilayer growth of graphene on Cu foil. When the H2 starting temperature was above 700°C, continuous monolayer graphene films were obtained. When the H2 starting temperature was below 350°C, continuous bilayer films were obtained. Detailed characterization of the samples treated under various conditions revealed that heating without the H2 flow caused Cu oxidation. The more the Cu substrate oxidized, the less graphene bilayer could form.

  1. A comparison of the transport properties of bilayer graphene,monolayer graphene, and two-dimensional electron gas

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Sun Li-Feng; Dong Li-Min; Wu Zhi-Fang; Fang Chao

    2013-01-01

    we studied and compared the transport properties of charge carriers in bilayer graphene,monolayer graphene,and the conventional semiconductors (the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG)).It is elucidated that the normal incidence transmission in the bilayer graphene is identical to that in the 2DEG but totally different from that in the monolayer graphene.However,resonant peaks appear in the non-normal incidence transmission profile for a high barrier in the bilayer graphene,which do not occur in the 2DEG.Furthermore,there are tunneling and forbidden regions in the transmission spectrum for each material,and the division of the two regions has been given in the work.The tunneling region covers a wide range of the incident energy for the two graphene systems,but only exists under specific conditions for the 2DEG.The counterparts of the transmission in the conductance profile are also given for the three materials,which may be used as high-performance devices based on the bilayer graphene.

  2. Cyclotron resonance in bilayer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henriksen, E A; Jiang, Z; Tung, L-C; Schwartz, M E; Takita, M; Wang, Y-J; Kim, P; Stormer, H L

    2008-02-29

    We present the first measurements of cyclotron resonance of electrons and holes in bilayer graphene. In magnetic fields up to B=18 T, we observe four distinct intraband transitions in both the conduction and valence bands. The transition energies are roughly linear in B between the lowest Landau levels, whereas they follow square root[B] for the higher transitions. This highly unusual behavior represents a change from a parabolic to a linear energy dispersion. The density of states derived from our data generally agrees with the existing lowest order tight binding calculation for bilayer graphene. However, in comparing data to theory, a single set of fitting parameters fails to describe the experimental results.

  3. Ultrafast lithium diffusion in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kühne, Matthias; Paolucci, Federico; Popovic, Jelena; Ostrovsky, Pavel M.; Maier, Joachim; Smet, Jurgen H.

    2017-09-01

    Solids that simultaneously conduct electrons and ions are key elements for the mass transfer and storage required in battery electrodes. Single-phase materials with a high electronic and high ionic conductivity at room temperature are hard to come by, and therefore multiphase systems with separate ion and electron channels have been put forward instead. Here we report on bilayer graphene as a single-phase mixed conductor that demonstrates Li diffusion faster than in graphite and even surpassing the diffusion of sodium chloride in liquid water. To measure Li diffusion, we have developed an on-chip electrochemical cell architecture in which the redox reaction that forces Li intercalation is localized only at a protrusion of the device so that the graphene bilayer remains unperturbed from the electrolyte during operation. We performed time-dependent Hall measurements across spatially displaced Hall probes to monitor the in-plane Li diffusion kinetics within the graphene bilayer and measured a diffusion coefficient as high as 7 × 10-5 cm2 s-1.

  4. Bilayer graphene quantum dot defined by topgates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Müller, André; Kaestner, Bernd; Hohls, Frank; Weimann, Thomas; Pierz, Klaus; Schumacher, Hans W., E-mail: hans.w.schumacher@ptb.de [Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig (Germany)

    2014-06-21

    We investigate the application of nanoscale topgates on exfoliated bilayer graphene to define quantum dot devices. At temperatures below 500 mK, the conductance underneath the grounded gates is suppressed, which we attribute to nearest neighbour hopping and strain-induced piezoelectric fields. The gate-layout can thus be used to define resistive regions by tuning into the corresponding temperature range. We use this method to define a quantum dot structure in bilayer graphene showing Coulomb blockade oscillations consistent with the gate layout.

  5. Electronic properties of a biased graphene bilayer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castro, Eduardo V; Lopes dos Santos, J M B; Novoselov, K S; Morozov, S V; Geim, A K; Peres, N M R; Nilsson, Johan; Castro Neto, A H; Guinea, F

    2010-01-01

    We study, within the tight-binding approximation, the electronic properties of a graphene bilayer in the presence of an external electric field applied perpendicular to the system-a biased bilayer. The effect of the perpendicular electric field is included through a parallel plate capacitor model, with screening correction at the Hartree level. The full tight-binding description is compared with its four-band and two-band continuum approximations, and the four-band model is shown to always be a suitable approximation for the conditions realized in experiments. The model is applied to real biased bilayer devices, made out of either SiC or exfoliated graphene, and good agreement with experimental results is found, indicating that the model is capturing the key ingredients, and that a finite gap is effectively being controlled externally. Analysis of experimental results regarding the electrical noise and cyclotron resonance further suggests that the model can be seen as a good starting point for understanding the electronic properties of graphene bilayer. Also, we study the effect of electron-hole asymmetry terms, such as the second-nearest-neighbour hopping energies t' (in-plane) and γ 4 (inter-layer), and the on-site energy Δ.

  6. First principle DFT study of electric field effects on the characteristics of bilayer graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sabzyan, Hassan; Sadeghpour, Narges [Isfahan Univ. (Iran, Islamic Republic of). Dept. of Chemistry

    2017-04-01

    First principle density functional theory methods, local density and Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximations with Goedecker pseudopotential (LDA-G and PBE-G), are used to study the electric field effects on the binding energy and atomic charges of bilayer graphene (BLG) at the Γ point of the Brillouin zone based on two types of unit cells (α and β) containing n{sub C}=8-32 carbon atoms. Results show that application of electric fields of 4-24 V/nm strengths reduces the binding energies and induces charge transfer between the two layers. The transferred charge increases almost linearly with the strength of the electric field for all sizes of the two types of unit cells. Furthermore, the charge transfer calculated with the α-type unit cells is more sensitive to the electric field strength. The calculated field-dependent contour plots of the differential charge densities of the two layers show details of charge density redistribution under the influence of the electric field.

  7. High Yield Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of High Quality Large-Area AB Stacked Bilayer Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Lixin; Zhou, Hailong; Cheng, Rui; Yu, Woo Jong; Liu, Yuan; Chen, Yu; Shaw, Jonathan; Zhong, Xing; Huang, Yu; Duan, Xiangfeng

    2012-01-01

    Bernal stacked (AB stacked) bilayer graphene is of significant interest for functional electronic and photonic devices due to the feasibility to continuously tune its band gap with a vertical electrical field. Mechanical exfoliation can be used to produce AB stacked bilayer graphene flakes but typically with the sizes limited to a few micrometers. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been recently explored for the synthesis of bilayer graphene but usually with limited coverage and a mixture of AB and randomly stacked structures. Herein we report a rational approach to produce large-area high quality AB stacked bilayer graphene. We show that the self-limiting effect of graphene growth on Cu foil can be broken by using a high H2/CH4 ratio in a low pressure CVD process to enable the continued growth of bilayer graphene. A high temperature and low pressure nucleation step is found to be critical for the formation of bilayer graphene nuclei with high AB stacking ratio. A rational design of a two-step CVD process is developed for the growth of bilayer graphene with high AB stacking ratio (up to 90 %) and high coverage (up to 99 %). The electrical transport studies demonstrated that devices made of the as-grown bilayer graphene exhibit typical characteristics of AB stacked bilayer graphene with the highest carrier mobility exceeding 4,000 cm2/V·s at room temperature, comparable to that of the exfoliated bilayer graphene. PMID:22906199

  8. Tunneling Spectroscopy of Quantum Hall States in Bilayer Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ke; Harzheim, Achim; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Kim, Philip

    In the quantum Hall (QH) regime, ballistic conducting paths along the physical edges of a sample appear, leading to quantized Hall conductance and vanishing longitudinal magnetoconductance. These QH edge states are often described as ballistic compressible strips separated by insulating incompressible strips, the spatial profiles of which can be crucial in understanding the stability and emergence of interaction driven QH states. In this work, we present tunneling transport between two QH edge states in bilayer graphene. Employing locally gated device structure, we guide and control the separation between the QH edge states in bilayer graphene. Using resonant Landau level tunneling as a spectroscopy tool, we measure the energy gap in bilayer graphene as a function of displacement field and probe the emergence and evolution of incompressible strips.

  9. Flexural phonon limited phonon drag thermopower in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ansari, Mohd Meenhaz; Ashraf, SSZ

    2018-05-01

    We investigate the phonon drag thermopower from flexural phonons as a function of electron temperature and carrier concentration in the Bloch-Gruneisen regime in non-strained bilayer graphene using Boltzmann transport equation approach. The flexural phonons are expected to be the major source of intrinsic scattering mechanism in unstrained bilayer graphene due to their large density. The flexural phonon modes dispersion relation is quadratic so these low energy flexural phonons abound at room temperature and as a result deform the bilayer graphene sheet in the out of plane direction and affects the transport properties. We also produce analytical result for phonon-drag thermopower from flexural phonons and find that phonon-drag thermopower depicts T2 dependence on temperature and n-1 on carrier concentration.

  10. Electronic transport of bilayer graphene with asymmetry line defects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xiao-Ming; Wu, Ya-Jie; Chen, Chan; Liang, Ying; Kou, Su-Peng

    2016-11-01

    In this paper, we study the quantum properties of a bilayer graphene with (asymmetry) line defects. The localized states are found around the line defects. Thus, the line defects on one certain layer of the bilayer graphene can lead to an electric transport channel. By adding a bias potential along the direction of the line defects, we calculate the electric conductivity of bilayer graphene with line defects using the Landauer-Büttiker theory, and show that the channel affects the electric conductivity remarkably by comparing the results with those in a perfect bilayer graphene. This one-dimensional line electric channel has the potential to be applied in nanotechnology engineering. Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2011CB921803 and 2012CB921704), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11174035, 11474025, 11504285, and 11404090), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education, China, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China, the Scientific Research Program Fund of the Shaanxi Provincial Education Department, China (Grant No. 15JK1363), and the Young Talent Fund of University Association for Science and Technology in Shaanxi Province, China.

  11. Electrically Controllable Magnetism in Twisted Bilayer Graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez-Arraga, Luis A; Lado, J L; Guinea, Francisco; San-Jose, Pablo

    2017-09-08

    Twisted graphene bilayers develop highly localized states around AA-stacked regions for small twist angles. We show that interaction effects may induce either an antiferromagnetic or a ferromagnetic (FM) polarization of said regions, depending on the electrical bias between layers. Remarkably, FM-polarized AA regions under bias develop spiral magnetic ordering, with a relative 120° misalignment between neighboring regions due to a frustrated antiferromagnetic exchange. This remarkable spiral magnetism emerges naturally without the need of spin-orbit coupling, and competes with the more conventional lattice-antiferromagnetic instability, which interestingly develops at smaller bias under weaker interactions than in monolayer graphene, due to Fermi velocity suppression. This rich and electrically controllable magnetism could turn twisted bilayer graphene into an ideal system to study frustrated magnetism in two dimensions.

  12. Enhanced sensitivity of a microfabricated resonator using a graphene-polystyrene bilayer membrane

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yun, Minhyuk; Lee, Eunho; Cho, Kilwon; Jeon, Sangmin, E-mail: jeons@postech.ac.kr [Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-08-18

    A graphene layer was synthesized using chemical vapor deposition methods and a polystyrene solution was spin-cast onto the graphene film. The graphene-polystyrene bilayer membrane was attached between the two tines of a microfabricated quartz tuning fork (QTF). The modulus of the graphene-polystyrene bilayer was measured to be twice that of a pristine polystyrene membrane. Exposure of the membrane-coated QTF to ethanol vapor decreased the resonance frequency of the microresonator. The bilayer membrane-coated QTF produced a frequency change that was three times the change obtained using a polystyrene membrane-coated QTF, with a lower degree of degradation in the Q factor. The limit of detection of the bilayer membrane-coated QTF to ethanol vapor was determined to be 20 ppm.

  13. A disorder induced field effect transistor in bilayer and trilayer graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Dongwei; Liu Haiwen; Sacksteder IV, Vincent; Sun Qingfeng; Song Juntao; Jiang Hua; Xie, X C

    2013-01-01

    We propose using disorder to produce a field effect transistor (FET) in biased bilayer and trilayer graphene. Modulation of the bias voltage can produce large variations in the conductance when the effects of disorder are confined to only one of the graphene layers. This effect is based on the ability of the bias voltage to select which of the graphene layers carries current, and is not tied to the presence of a gap in the density of states. In particular, we demonstrate this effect in models of gapless ABA-stacked trilayer graphene, gapped ABC-stacked trilayer graphene and gapped bilayer graphene. (paper)

  14. The longitudinal optical conductivity in bilayer graphene and other two-dimensional systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, C.H., E-mail: chyang@nuist.edu.cn [School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044 (China); Ao, Z.M., E-mail: zhimin.ao@uts.edu.au [Centre for Clean Energy Technology, School of Chemistry and Forensic Science, University of Technology, Sydney ,PO Box 123, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007 (Australia); Wei, X.F. [West Anhui University, Luan 237012 (China); Jiang, J.J. [Department of Physics, Sanjing College, Nanjing 210012 (China)

    2015-01-15

    The longitudinal optical conductivity in bilayer graphene is calculated using the dielectric function by defining the density operator theoretically, while the effect of the broadening width determined by the scattering sources on the optical conductivity is also investigated. Some features, such as chirality, energy dispersion and density of state (DOS) in bilayer graphene, are similar to those in monolayer graphene and a traditional two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). Therefore, in this paper, the bilayer graphene optical conductivity is compared with the results in these two systems. The analytical and numerical results show that the optical conductivity per graphene layer is almost a constant and close to e{sup 2}/(4ℏ), which agrees with the experimental results.

  15. Bias induced modulation of electrical and thermal conductivity and heat capacity of BN and BN/graphene bilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chegel, Raad, E-mail: Raad.chegel@gmail.com

    2017-04-15

    By using the tight binding approximation and Green function method, the electronic structure, density of state, electrical conductivity, heat capacity of BN and BN/graphene bilayers are investigated. The AA-, AB{sub 1}- and AB{sub 2}- BN/graphene bilayers have small gap unlike to BN bilayers which are wide band gap semiconductors. Unlike to BN bilayer, the energy gap of graphene/BN bilayers increases with external field. The magnitude of the change in the band gap of BN bilayers is much higher than the graphene/BN bilayers. Near absolute zero, the σ(T) is zero for BN bilayers and it increases with temperature until reaches maximum value then decreases. The BN/graphene bilayers have larger electrical conductivity larger than BN bilayers. For both bilayers, the specific heat capacity has a Schottky anomaly.

  16. Electronic transport in bilayer graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koshino, Mikito

    2009-01-01

    We present theoretical studies on the transport properties and localization effects of bilayer graphene. We calculate the conductivity by using the effective mass model with the self-consistent Born approximation, in the presence and absence of an energy gap opened by the interlayer asymmetry. We find that, in the absence of the gap, the minimum conductivity approaches the universal value by increasing the disorder potential, and the value is robust in the strong disorder regime where mixing with high-energy states is considerable. The gap-opening suppresses the conductivity over a wide energy range, even in the region away from the gap.We also study the localization effects in the vicinity of zero energy in bilayer graphene. We find that the states are all localized in the absence of the gap, while the gap-opening causes a phase transition analogous to the quantum Hall transition, which is accompanied by electron delocalization.

  17. Photon-Assisted Resonant Chiral Tunneling Through a Bilayer Graphene Barrier

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phillips A. H.

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The electronic transport property of a bilayer graphene is investigated under the effect of an electromagnetic field. We deduce an expression for the conductance by solving the Dirac equation. This conductance depends on the barrier height for graphene and the energy of the induced photons. A resonance oscillatory behavior of the conductance is observed. These oscillations are strongly depends on the barrier height for chiral tunneling through graphene. This oscillatory behavior might be due to the interference of different central band and sidebands of graphene states. The present investigation is very important for the application of bilayer graphene in photodetector devices, for example, far-infrared photodevices and ultrafast lasers.

  18. Twisted Bilayer Graphene. Interlayer configuration and magnetotransport signatures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rode, Johannes C.; Smirnov, Dmitri; Belke, Christopher; Schmidt, Hennrik; Haug, Rolf J. [Institut fuer Festkoerperphysik, Hannover (Germany)

    2017-11-15

    Twisted Bilayer Graphene may be viewed as very first representative of the now booming class of artificially layered 2D materials. Consisting of two sheets from the same structure and atomic composition, its decisive degree of freedom lies in the rotation between crystallographic axes in the individual graphene monolayers. Geometrical consideration finds angle-dependent Moire patterns as well as commensurate superlattices of opposite sublattice exchange symmetry. Beyond the approach of rigidly interposed lattices, this review takes focus on the evolving topic of lattice corrugation and distortion in response to spatially varying lattice registry. The experimental approach to twisted bilayers requires a basic control over preparation techniques; important methods are summarized and extended on in the case of bilayers folded from monolayer graphene via AFM nanomachining. Central morphological parameters to the twisted bilayer, rotational mismatch and interlayer separation are studied in a broader base of samples. Finally, experimental evidence for a number of theoretically predicted, controversial electronic scenarios are reviewed; magnetotransport signatures are discussed in terms of Fermi velocity, van Hove singularities and Berry phase and assessed with respect to the underlying experimental conditions, thereby referring back to the initially considered variations in relaxed lattice structure. (copyright 2017 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  19. Electrostatically confined quantum rings in bilayer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarenia, M; Pereira, J M; Peeters, F M; Farias, G A

    2009-12-01

    We propose a new system where electron and hole states are electrostatically confined into a quantum ring in bilayer graphene. These structures can be created by tuning the gap of the graphene bilayer using nanostructured gates or by position-dependent doping. The energy levels have a magnetic field (B(0)) dependence that is strikingly distinct from that of usual semiconductor quantum rings. In particular, the eigenvalues are not invariant under a B(0) --> -B(0) transformation and, for a fixed total angular momentum index m, their field dependence is not parabolic, but displays two minima separated by a saddle point. The spectra also display several anticrossings, which arise due to the overlap of gate-confined and magnetically confined states.

  20. Electronic band structure of magnetic bilayer graphene superlattices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pham, C. Huy; Nguyen, T. Thuong; Nguyen, V. Lien

    2014-01-01

    Electronic band structure of the bilayer graphene superlattices with δ-function magnetic barriers and zero average magnetic flux is studied within the four-band continuum model, using the transfer matrix method. The periodic magnetic potential effects on the zero-energy touching point between the lowest conduction and the highest valence minibands of pristine bilayer graphene are exactly analyzed. Magnetic potential is shown also to generate the finite-energy touching points between higher minibands at the edges of Brillouin zone. The positions of these points and the related dispersions are determined in the case of symmetric potentials.

  1. Self-assembled PCBM bilayers on graphene and HOPG examined by AFM and STM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yanlong; Chen, Chuanhui; Burton, John; Park, Kyungwha; Heflin, James R.; Tao, Chenggang

    2018-05-01

    In this work we report fabrication and characterization of phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) bilayer structures on graphene and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). Through careful control of the PCBM solution concentration (from 0.1 to 2 mg ml-1) and the deposition conditions, we demonstrate that PCBM molecules self-assemble into bilayer structures on graphene and HOPG substrates. Interestingly, the PCBM bilayers are formed with two distinct heights on HOPG, but only one unique representative height on graphene. At elevated annealing temperatures, edge diffusion allows neighboring vacancies to merge into a more ordered structure. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first experimental realization of PCBM bilayer structures on graphene. This work could provide valuable insight into fabrication of new hybrid, ordered structures for applications to organic solar cells.

  2. Gas adsorption, energetics and electronic properties of boron- and nitrogen-doped bilayer graphenes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujimoto, Yoshitaka, E-mail: fujimoto@stat.phys.titech.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Oh-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan); Saito, Susumu [Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Oh-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan); International Research Center for Nanoscience and Quantum Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Oh-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan); Materials Research Center for Element Strategy, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 226-8503 (Japan)

    2016-10-20

    We study stabilities and electronic properties of several environmental polluting or toxic gas molecules (CO, CO{sub 2}, NO, and NO{sub 2}) adsorbed on B and N atoms in bilayer graphene using first-principles electronic-structure calculations. We find that NO and NO{sub 2} molecules can be bound chemically on B-doped bilayer graphene with large adsorption energies, while CO and CO{sub 2} molecules are not adsorbed chemically on B-doped one. In the case of the N-doped graphene, all four gases do not bind with chemical bonds but adsorb rather physically with small adsorption energies at long distances between gases and graphene. The adsorptions of NO and NO{sub 2} molecules on B-doped bilayer graphene induce the acceptor states above the Fermi energy, and we also find that the charge transfer takes place when the NO and the NO{sub 2} molecules are adsorbed. Thereby, the B-doped bilayer graphene is expected to be useful for NO and NO{sub 2} gas sensor materials.

  3. Bilayer graphene: physics and application outlook in photonics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yan Hugen

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Layered materials, such as graphene, transition metal dichacogenides and black phosphorus have attracted lots of attention recently. They are emerging novel materials in electronics and photonics, with tremendous potential in revolutionizing the traditional electronics and photonics industry. Marrying layered material to the nanophotonics is being proved fruitful. With the recent emphasis and development of metasurfaces in nanophotonics, atomically thin materials can find their unique position and strength in this field. In this article, I will focus on one specific two dimensional material: bilayer graphene. Basic physics will be reviewed, such as band-gap opening, electron-phonon interaction, phonon-plasmon interaction and Fano resonances in the optical response. Moreover, I will review the application of bilayer graphene as a sensitive and fast photodetector. An outlook will be given in the final part of the paper.

  4. Highly sensitive and selective room-temperature NO_2 gas sensor based on bilayer transferred chemical vapor deposited graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seekaew, Yotsarayuth; Phokharatkul, Ditsayut; Wisitsoraat, Anurat; Wongchoosuk, Chatchawal

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Simple and low-cost fabrication of bilayer graphene gas sensor was presented. • Layer effects of graphene on NO_2 gas-sensing properties were investigated. • Bilayer graphene sensor exhibited a high linear NO_2 sensitivity of 1.409 ppm"−"1. • The NO_2-sensing mechanisms based on band diagram were highlighted. - Abstract: This work presents a highly sensitive room-temperature gas sensor based on bilayer graphene fabricated by an interfacial transfer of chemical vapor deposited graphene onto nickel interdigitated electrodes. Scanning electron microscopic and Raman spectroscopic characterizations confirm the presence of graphene on interdigitated nickel electrodes with varying numbers of graphene layers. The NO_2 detection performances of bilayer graphene gas sensor have been investigated in comparison with those of monolayer and multilayer graphene gas sensors at room temperature. From results, the bilayer graphene gas sensor exhibits higher response, sensitivity and selectivity to NO_2 than monolayer and multilayer graphene. The sensitivity of bilayer graphene gas sensor is 1.409 ppm"−"1 towards NO_2 over a concentration range of 1–25 ppm, which is more than twice higher than that of monolayer graphene. The NO_2-sensing mechanism of graphene sensing film has been explained based on the direct charge transfer process due to the adsorption of NO_2 molecules.

  5. Structural and electronic transformation in low-angle twisted bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gargiulo, Fernando; Yazyev, Oleg V.

    2018-01-01

    Experiments on bilayer graphene unveiled a fascinating realization of stacking disorder where triangular domains with well-defined Bernal stacking are delimited by a hexagonal network of strain solitons. Here we show by means of numerical simulations that this is a consequence of a structural transformation of the moiré pattern inherent to twisted bilayer graphene taking place at twist angles θ below a crossover angle θ\\star=1.2\\circ . The transformation is governed by the interplay between the interlayer van der Waals interaction and the in-plane strain field, and is revealed by a change in the functional form of the twist energy density. This transformation unveils an electronic regime characteristic of vanishing twist angles in which the charge density converges, though not uniformly, to that of ideal bilayer graphene with Bernal stacking. On the other hand, the stacking domain boundaries form a distinct charge density pattern that provides the STM signature of the hexagonal solitonic network.

  6. Magneto-transport in the zero-energy Landau level of single-layer and bilayer graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeitler, U; Giesbers, A J M; Elferen, H J van; Kurganova, E V; McCollam, A; Maan, J C

    2011-01-01

    We present recent low-temperature magnetotransport experiments on single-layer and bilayer graphene in high magnetic field up to 33 T. In single layer graphene the fourfold degeneracy of the zero-energy Landau level is lifted by a gap opening at filling factor ν = 0. In bilayer graphene, we observe a partial lifting of the degeneracy of the eightfold degenerate zero-energy Landau level.

  7. Highly sensitive and selective room-temperature NO{sub 2} gas sensor based on bilayer transferred chemical vapor deposited graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seekaew, Yotsarayuth [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900 (Thailand); Phokharatkul, Ditsayut; Wisitsoraat, Anurat [Nanoelectronics and MEMS Laboratory, National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120 (Thailand); Wongchoosuk, Chatchawal, E-mail: chatchawal.w@ku.ac.th [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900 (Thailand)

    2017-05-15

    Highlights: • Simple and low-cost fabrication of bilayer graphene gas sensor was presented. • Layer effects of graphene on NO{sub 2} gas-sensing properties were investigated. • Bilayer graphene sensor exhibited a high linear NO{sub 2} sensitivity of 1.409 ppm{sup −1}. • The NO{sub 2}-sensing mechanisms based on band diagram were highlighted. - Abstract: This work presents a highly sensitive room-temperature gas sensor based on bilayer graphene fabricated by an interfacial transfer of chemical vapor deposited graphene onto nickel interdigitated electrodes. Scanning electron microscopic and Raman spectroscopic characterizations confirm the presence of graphene on interdigitated nickel electrodes with varying numbers of graphene layers. The NO{sub 2} detection performances of bilayer graphene gas sensor have been investigated in comparison with those of monolayer and multilayer graphene gas sensors at room temperature. From results, the bilayer graphene gas sensor exhibits higher response, sensitivity and selectivity to NO{sub 2} than monolayer and multilayer graphene. The sensitivity of bilayer graphene gas sensor is 1.409 ppm{sup −1} towards NO{sub 2} over a concentration range of 1–25 ppm, which is more than twice higher than that of monolayer graphene. The NO{sub 2}-sensing mechanism of graphene sensing film has been explained based on the direct charge transfer process due to the adsorption of NO{sub 2} molecules.

  8. Mobility gap and quantum transport in a functionalized graphene bilayer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Missaoui, Ahmed; Jemaa Khabthani, Jouda; Jaidane, Nejm-Eddine; Mayou, Didier; Trambly de Laissardière, Guy

    2018-05-01

    In a Bernal graphene bilayer, carbon atoms belong to two inequivalent sublattices A and B, with atoms that are coupled to the other layer by bonds belonging to sublattice A and the other atoms belonging to sublattice B. We analyze the density of states and the conductivity of Bernal graphene bilayers when atoms of sublattice A or B only are randomly functionalized. We find that for a selective functionalization on sublattice B only, a mobility gap of the order of 0.5 eV is formed close to the Dirac energy at concentration of adatoms . In addition, at some other energies conductivity presents anomalous behaviors. We show that these properties are related to the bipartite structure of the graphene layer.

  9. Gate tunable spin transport in graphene with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Xiao-Dong; Liao, Xiao-Ping; Sun, Litao

    2016-10-01

    Recently, it attracts much attention to study spin-resolved transport properties in graphene with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC). One remarkable finding is that Klein tunneling in single layer graphene (SLG) with RSOC (SLG + R for short below) behaves as in bi-layer graphene (BLG). Based on the effective Dirac theory, we reconsider this tunneling problem and derive the analytical solution for the transmission coefficients. Our result shows that Klein tunneling in SLG + R and BLG exhibits completely different behaviors. More importantly, we find two new transmission selection rules in SLG + R, i.e., the single band to single band (S → S) and the single band to multiple bands (S → M) transmission regimes, which strongly depend on the relative height among Fermi level, RSOC, and potential barrier. Interestingly, in the S → S transmission regime, only normally incident electrons have capacity to pass through the barrier, while in the S → M transmission regime the angle-dependent tunneling becomes very prominent. Using the transmission coefficients, we also derive spin-resolved conductance analytically, and conductance oscillation with the increasing barrier height and zero conductance gap are found in SLG + R. The present study offers new insights and opportunities for developing graphene-based spin devices.

  10. P3HT-graphene bilayer electrode for Schottky junction photodetectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aydın, H.; Kalkan, S. B.; Varlikli, C.; Çelebi, C.

    2018-04-01

    We have investigated the effect of a poly (3-hexylthiophene-2.5-diyl)(P3HT)-graphene bilayer electrode on the photoresponsivity characteristics of Si-based Schottky photodetectors. P3HT, which is known to be an electron donor and absorb light in the visible spectrum, was placed on CVD grown graphene by dip-coating method. The results of the UV-vis and Raman spectroscopy measurements have been evaluated to confirm the optical and electronic modification of graphene by the P3HT thin film. Current-voltage measurements of graphene/Si and P3HT-graphene/Si revealed rectification behavior confirming a Schottky junction formation at the graphene/Si interface. Time-resolved photocurrent spectroscopy measurements showed the devices had excellent durability and a fast response speed. We found that the maximum spectral photoresponsivity of the P3HT-graphene/Si photodetector increased more than three orders of magnitude compared to that of the bare graphene/Si photodetector. The observed increment in the photoresponsivity of the P3HT-graphene/Si samples was attributed to the charge transfer doping from P3HT to graphene within the spectral range between near-ultraviolet and near-infrared. Furthermore, the P3HT-graphene electrode was found to improve the specific detectivity and noise equivalent power of graphene/Si photodetectors. The obtained results showed that the P3HT-graphene bilayer electrodes significantly improved the photoresponsivity characteristics of our samples and thus can be used as a functional component in Si-based optoelectronic device applications.

  11. Transient Zitterbewegung of charge carriers in mono- and bilayer graphene, and carbon nanotubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rusin, Tomasz M.; Zawadzki, Wlodek

    2007-01-01

    Observable effects due to trembling motion [Zitterbewegung (ZB)] of charge carriers in bilayer graphene, monolayer graphene, and carbon nanotubes are calculated. It is shown that, when the charge carriers are prepared in the form of Gaussian wave packets, the ZB has a transient character with the decay time of femtoseconds in graphene and picoseconds in nanotubes. Analytical results for bilayer graphene allow us to investigate phenomena which accompany the trembling motion. In particular, it is shown that the transient character of ZB in graphene is due to the fact that wave subpackets related to positive and negative electron energies move in opposite directions, so their overlap diminishes with time. This behavior is analogous to that of the wave packets representing relativistic electrons in a vacuum

  12. Gate-Controlled Transmission of Quantum Hall Edge States in Bilayer Graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jing; Wen, Hua; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Zhu, Jun

    2018-02-02

    The edge states of the quantum Hall and fractional quantum Hall effect of a two-dimensional electron gas carry key information of the bulk excitations. Here we demonstrate gate-controlled transmission of edge states in bilayer graphene through a potential barrier with tunable height. The backscattering rate is continuously varied from 0 to close to 1, with fractional quantized values corresponding to the sequential complete backscattering of individual modes. Our experiments demonstrate the feasibility to controllably manipulate edge states in bilayer graphene, thus opening the door to more complex experiments.

  13. Gate-Controlled Transmission of Quantum Hall Edge States in Bilayer Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jing; Wen, Hua; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Zhu, Jun

    2018-02-01

    The edge states of the quantum Hall and fractional quantum Hall effect of a two-dimensional electron gas carry key information of the bulk excitations. Here we demonstrate gate-controlled transmission of edge states in bilayer graphene through a potential barrier with tunable height. The backscattering rate is continuously varied from 0 to close to 1, with fractional quantized values corresponding to the sequential complete backscattering of individual modes. Our experiments demonstrate the feasibility to controllably manipulate edge states in bilayer graphene, thus opening the door to more complex experiments.

  14. Negative and positive magnetoresistance in bilayer graphene: Effects of weak localization and charge inhomogeneity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Yungfu; Bae, Myung-Ho; Chialvo, Cesar; Dirks, Travis; Bezryadin, Alexey; Mason, Nadya

    2011-01-01

    We report measurements of magnetoresistance in bilayer graphene as a function of gate voltage (carrier density) and temperature. We examine multiple contributions to the magnetoresistance, including those of weak localization (WL), universal conductance fluctuations (UCF), and inhomogeneous charge transport. A clear WL signal is evident at all measured gate voltages (in the hole doped regime) and temperature ranges (from 0.25 to 4.3 K), and the phase coherence length extracted from the WL data does not saturate at low temperatures. The WL data is fit to demonstrate that the electron-electron Nyquist scattering is the major source of phase decoherence. A decrease in UCF amplitude with increase in gate voltage and temperature is shown to be consistent with a corresponding decrease in the phase coherence length. In addition, a weak positive magnetoresistance at higher magnetic fields is observed, and attributed to inhomogeneous charge transport. -- Research highlights: → Weak localization theory describes low-field magnetoresistance in bilayer graphene. → Electron-electron Nyquist scattering limits phase coherence in bilayer graphene. → Positive magnetoresistance reveals charge inhomogeneity in bilayer graphene.

  15. Photon-Assisted Resonant Chiral Tunneling Through a Bilayer Graphene Barrier

    OpenAIRE

    Phillips A. H.; Mina A. N.

    2011-01-01

    The electronic transport property of a bilayer graphene is investigated under the effect of an electromagnetic field. We deduce an expression for the conductance by solving the Dirac equation. This conductance depends on the barrier height for graphene and the energy of the induced photons. A resonance oscillatory behavior of the conductance is observed. These oscillations are strongly depends on the barrier height for chiral tunneling through graphene. This oscillatory behavio...

  16. Doping efficiency of single and randomly stacked bilayer graphene by iodine adsorption

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, HoKwon; Renault, Olivier; Rouchon, Denis; Mariolle, Denis; Chevalier, Nicolas [Univ. Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France and CEA, LETI, MINATEC Campus, F-38054 Grenoble (France); Tyurnina, Anastasia; Simonato, Jean-Pierre; Dijon, Jean [Univ. Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France and CEA, LITEN, Minatec Campus, F-38054 Grenoble (France)

    2014-07-07

    We report on the efficiency and thermal stability of p-doping by iodine on single and randomly stacked, weakly coupled bilayer polycrystalline graphene, as directly measured by photoelectron emission microscopy. The doping results in work function value increase of 0.4–0.5 eV, with a higher degree of iodine uptake by the bilayer (2%) as compared to the single layer (1%) suggesting iodine intercalation in the bilayer. The chemistry of iodine is identified accordingly as I{sub 3}{sup −} and I{sub 5}{sup −} poly iodide anionic complexes with slightly higher concentration of I{sub 5}{sup −} in bilayer than monolayer graphene, likely attributed to differences in doping mechanisms. Temperature dependent in-situ annealing of the doped films demonstrated that the doping remains efficient up to 200 °C.

  17. Enhanced intrinsic voltage gain in artificially stacked bilayer CVD graphene field effect transistors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pandey, Himadri; Kataria, Satender [RWTH Aachen University, Chair for Electronic Devices, Aachen (Germany); University of Siegen, School of Science and Technology, Siegen (Germany); Aguirre-Morales, Jorge-Daniel; Fregonese, Sebastien; Zimmer, Thomas [IMS Laboratory, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Bordeaux, Talence (France); Passi, Vikram [University of Siegen, School of Science and Technology, Siegen (Germany); AMO GmbH, Advanced Microelectronics Center Aachen (Germany); Iannazzo, Mario; Alarcon, Eduard [Technical University of Catalonia, Department of Electronics Engineering, UPC, Barcelona (Spain); Lemme, Max C. [RWTH Aachen University, Chair for Electronic Devices, Aachen (Germany); University of Siegen, School of Science and Technology, Siegen (Germany); AMO GmbH, Advanced Microelectronics Center Aachen (Germany)

    2017-11-15

    We report on electronic transport in dual-gate, artificially stacked bilayer graphene field effect transistors (BiGFETs) fabricated from large-area chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene. The devices show enhanced tendency to current saturation, which leads to reduced minimum output conductance values. This results in improved intrinsic voltage gain of the devices when compared to monolayer graphene FETs. We employ a physics based compact model originally developed for Bernal stacked bilayer graphene FETs (BSBGFETs) to explore the observed phenomenon. The improvement in current saturation may be attributed to increased charge carrier density in the channel and thus reduced saturation velocity due to carrier-carrier scattering. (copyright 2017 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  18. Landau levels in biased graphene structures with monolayer-bilayer interfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirzakhani, M.; Zarenia, M.; Vasilopoulos, P.; Ketabi, S. A.; Peeters, F. M.

    2017-09-01

    The electron energy spectrum in monolayer-bilayer-monolayer and in bilayer-monolayer-bilayer graphene structures is investigated and the effects of a perpendicular magnetic field and electric bias are studied. Different types of monolayer-bilayer interfaces are considered as zigzag (ZZ) or armchair (AC) junctions which modify considerably the bulk Landau levels (LLs) when the spectra are plotted as a function of the center coordinate of the cyclotron orbit. Far away from the two interfaces, one obtains the well-known LLs for extended monolayer or bilayer graphene. The LL structure changes significantly at the two interfaces or junctions where the valley degeneracy is lifted for both types of junctions, especially when the distance between them is approximately equal to the magnetic length. Varying the nonuniform bias and the width of this junction-to-junction region in either structure strongly influence the resulting spectra. Significant differences exist between ZZ and AC junctions in both structures. The densities of states (DOSs) for unbiased structures are symmetric in energy whereas those for biased structures are asymmetric. An external bias creates interface LLs in the gaps between the LLs of the unbiased system in which the DOS can be quite small. Such a pattern of LLs can be probed by scanning tunneling microscopy.

  19. Interlayer thermal conductance within a phosphorene and graphene bilayer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Yang; Zhang, Jingchao; Zeng, Xiao Cheng

    2016-11-24

    Monolayer graphene possesses unusual thermal properties, and is often considered as a prototype system for the study of thermal physics of low-dimensional electronic/thermal materials, despite the absence of a direct bandgap. Another two-dimensional (2D) atomic layered material, phosphorene, is a natural p-type semiconductor and it has attracted growing interest in recent years. When a graphene monolayer is overlaid on phosphorene, the hybrid van der Waals (vdW) bilayer becomes a potential candidate for high-performance thermal/electronic applications, owing to the combination of the direct-bandgap properties of phosphorene with the exceptional thermal properties of graphene. In this work, the interlayer thermal conductance at the phosphorene/graphene interface is systematically investigated using classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The transient pump-probe heating method is employed to compute the interfacial thermal resistance (R) of the bilayer. The predicted R value at the phosphorene/graphene interface is 8.41 × 10 -8 K m 2 W -1 at room temperature. Different external and internal conditions, i.e., temperature, contact pressure, vacancy defect, and chemical functionalization, can all effectively reduce R at the interface. Numerical results of R reduction as a function of temperature, interfacial coupling strength, defect ratio, or hydrogen coverage are reported with the most R reduction amounting to 56.5%, 70.4%, 34.8% and 84.5%, respectively.

  20. Basal-plane dislocations in bilayer graphene - Peculiarities in a quasi-2D material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butz, Benjamin

    2015-03-01

    Dislocations represent one of the most fascinating and fundamental concepts in materials science. First and foremost, they are the main carriers of plastic deformation in crystalline materials. Furthermore, they can strongly alter the local electronic or optical properties of semiconductors and ionic crystals. In layered crystals like graphite dislocation movement is restricted to the basal plane. Thus, those basal-plane dislocations cannot escape enabling their confinement in between only two atomic layers of the material. So-called bilayer graphene is the thinnest imaginable quasi-2D crystal to explore the nature and behavior of dislocations under such extreme boundary conditions. Robust graphene membranes derived from epitaxial graphene on SiC provide an ideal platform for their investigation. The presentation will give an insight in the direct observation of basal-plane partial dislocations by transmission electron microscopy and their detailed investigation by diffraction contrast analysis and atomistic simulations. The investigation reveals striking size effects. First, the absence of stacking fault energy, a unique property of bilayer graphene, leads to a characteristic dislocation pattern, which corresponds to an alternating AB BA change of the stacking order. Most importantly, our experiments in combination with atomistic simulations reveal a pronounced buckling of the bilayer graphene membrane, which directly results from accommodation of strain. In fact, the buckling completely changes the strain state of the bilayer graphene and is of key importance for its electronic/spin transport properties. Due to the high degree of disorder in our quasi-2D material it is one of the very few examples for a perfect linear magnetoresistance, i.e. the linear dependency of the in-plane electrical resistance on a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the graphene sheet up to field strengths of more than 60 T. This research is financed by the German Research Foundation

  1. Layer-selective synthesis of bilayer graphene via chemical vapor deposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ning; Choi, Kyoungjun; Robertson, John; Park, Hyung Gyu

    2017-09-01

    A controlled synthesis of high-quality AB-stacked bilayer graphene by chemical vapor deposition demands a detailed understanding of the mechanism and kinetics. By decoupling the growth of the two layers via a growth-and-regrowth scheme, we report the kinetics and termination mechanisms of the bilayer graphene growth on copper. We observe, for the first time, that the secondary layer growth follows Gompertzian kinetics. Our observations affirm the postulate of a time-variant transition from a mass-transport-limited to a reaction-limited regimes and identify the mechanistic disparity between the monolayer growth and the secondary-layer expansion underneath the monolayer cover. It is the continuous carbon supply that drives the expansion of the graphene secondary layer, rather than the initially captured carbon amount, suggesting an essential role of the surface diffusion of reactant adsorbates in the interspace between the top graphene layer and the underneath copper surface. We anticipate that the layer selectivity of the growth relies on the entrance energetics of the adsorbed reactants to the graphene-copper interspace across the primary-layer edge, which could be engineered by tailoring the edge termination state. The temperature-reliant saturation area of the secondary-layer expansion is understood as a result of competitive attachment of carbon and hydrogen adatoms to the secondary-layer graphene edge.

  2. Double Barriers and Magnetic Field in Bilayer Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Redouani, Ilham; Jellal, Ahmed; Bahlouli, Hocine

    2015-12-01

    We study the transmission probability in an AB-stacked bilayer graphene of Dirac fermions scattered by a double-barrier structure in the presence of a magnetic field. We take into account the full four bands structure of the energy spectrum and use the suitable boundary conditions to determine the transmission probability. Our numerical results show that for energies higher than the interlayer coupling, four ways for transmission are possible while for energies less than the height of the barrier, Dirac fermions exhibit transmission resonances and only one transmission channel is available. We show that, for AB-stacked bilayer graphene, there is no Klein tunneling at normal incidence. We find that the transmission displays sharp peaks inside the transmission gap around the Dirac point within the barrier regions while they are absent around the Dirac point in the well region. The effect of the magnetic field, interlayer electrostatic potential, and various barrier geometry parameters on the transmission probabilities is also discussed.

  3. Theoretical study of electronic transport properties of a graphene-silicene bilayer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berdiyorov, G. R. [Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Qatar Foundation, P.O. Box 5825, Doha (Qatar); Bahlouli, H. [Department of Physics, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, 31261 Dhahran (Saudi Arabia); Saudi Center for Theoretical Physics, 31261 Dhahran (Saudi Arabia); Peeters, F. M. [Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen (Belgium)

    2015-06-14

    Electronic transport properties of a graphene-silicene bilayer system are studied using density-functional theory in combination with the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. Depending on the energy of the electrons, the transmission can be larger in this system as compared to the sum of the transmissions of separated graphene and silicene monolayers. This effect is related to the increased electron density of states in the bilayer sample. At some energies, the electronic states become localized in one of the layers, resulting in the suppression of the electron transmission. The effect of an applied voltage on the transmission becomes more pronounced in the layered sample as compared to graphene due to the larger variation of the electrostatic potential profile. Our findings will be useful when creating hybrid nanoscale devices where enhanced transport properties will be desirable.

  4. Driven spin transitions in fluorinated single- and bilayer-graphene quantum dots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Żebrowski, D. P.; Peeters, F. M.; Szafran, B.

    2017-06-01

    Spin transitions driven by a periodically varying electric potential in dilute fluorinated graphene quantum dots are investigated. Flakes of monolayer graphene as well as electrostatic electron traps induced in bilayer graphene are considered. The stationary states obtained within the tight-binding approach are used as the basis for description of the system dynamics. The dilute fluorination of the top layer lifts the valley degeneracy of the confined states and attenuates the orbital magnetic dipole moments due to current circulation within the flake. The spin-orbit coupling introduced by the surface deformation of the top layer induced by the adatoms allows the spin flips to be driven by the AC electric field. For the bilayer quantum dots the spin flip times is substantially shorter than the spin relaxation. Dynamical effects including many-photon and multilevel transitions are also discussed.

  5. Study on the optical and electrical properties of tetracyanoethylene doped bilayer graphene stack for transparent conducting electrodes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Limbu, Tej B.; Barrionuevo, Danilo; Katiyar, Ram S.; Morell, Gerardo; Mendoza, Frank; Carpena, Jennifer; Maruyama, Benji; Weiner, Brad R.

    2016-01-01

    We report the optical and electrical properties of chemically-doped bilayer graphene stack by tetracyanoethylene, a strong electron acceptor. The Tetracyanoethylene doping on the bilayer graphene via charge transfer was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and Infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. Doped graphene shows a significant increase in the sheet carrier concentration of up to 1.520 × 10"1"3 cm"−"2 with a concomitant reduction of the sheet resistance down to 414.1 Ω/sq. The high optical transmittance (ca. 84%) in the visible region in combination with the low sheet resistance of the Tetracyanoethylene-doped bilayer graphene stack opens up the possibility of making transparent conducting electrodes for practical applications.

  6. Adsorption of beryllium atoms and clusters both on graphene and in a bilayer of graphite investigated by DFT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferro, Yves; Fernandez, Nicolas; Allouche, Alain; Linsmeier, Christian

    2013-01-09

    We herein investigate the interaction of beryllium with a graphene sheet and in a bilayer of graphite by means of periodic DFT calculations. In all cases, we find the beryllium atoms to be more weakly bonded on graphene than in the bilayer. Be(2) forms both magnetic and non-magnetic structures on graphene depending on the geometrical configuration of adsorption. We find that the stability of the Be/bilayer system increases with the size of the beryllium clusters inserted into the bilayer of graphite. We also find a charge transfer from beryllium to the graphite layers. All these results are analysed in terms of electronic structure.

  7. Digested BLG can induce tolerance when co-administered with intact BLG in Brown Norway rats

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bøgh, Katrine Lindholm; Barkholt, Vibeke; Madsen, Charlotte Bernhard

    the human gastro-duodenal digestion process. Four different fractions of BLG-digest was made, based on sizes of peptides or aggregates hereof. Intact BLG and the four fractions of BLG-digesta were characterized by protein chemical analyses. Brown Norway (BN) rats were immunised i.p. three times without......Background: Milk is a major constituent of small children’s diet. Milk allergy is also one of the most common allergies in small children. Prevention, treatment and general understanding of this allergy are therefore important. Methods: Intact BLG was digested in an in vitro model simulating...... the use of adjuvant with either PBS (control), 200 µg of intact BLG, 30 µg of intact BLG, 200 µg of digested BLG (with 30 µg of intact BLG), 200 µg of digested BLG, 200 µg of a fraction of large complexes or 200 µg of a fraction of small complexes (all three without intact BLG). Sera from BN rats were...

  8. Magnetic properties of a doped graphene-like bilayer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guo, An-Bang [School of Science, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang 110870 (China); Jiang, Wei, E-mail: weijiang.sut.edu@gmail.com [School of Science, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang 110870 (China); Zhang, Na [Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang 110034 (China)

    2017-05-15

    A doped graphene-like bilayer is described using a four-sublattice Heisenberg model both ferromagnetic and antiferrimagnetic couplings. The magnetic properties of the bilayer system are studied using the Heisenberg model, retarded Green's function and the linear spin-wave approximation. The spin-wave spectra, energy gap, and the magnetization and quantum fluctuation of the system at the ground state are calculated with various intra- and interlayer couplings. The results indicate that the effect of antiferromagnetic exchange coupling on the magnetic properties of the system is significant. Magnetizations at low temperature show intersection points due to the quantum effects.

  9. Revival of cloaking effect in a driven bilayer graphene vector barrier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maiti, S.; Panigrahi, A.; Biswas, R.; Sinha, C.

    2018-05-01

    Transmission profiles in bilayer graphene are studied theoretically through a rectangular vector potential (magnetic) barrier with and without the presence of an oscillatory potential. Unlike the electrostatic barrier, the Fano resonances (FR) are noted in the transmission spectra both for normal and glancing incidences due to non-conservation of chirality for a static vector barrier. The results for normal incidence indicate that the cloaking effect is a manifestation of the chirality conservation in charge transport through bilayer graphene scalar barriers. It is also noted that the aforesaid FR for a static vector barrier might disappear (photon induced electronic cloaking effect) due to the predominant photon exchange processes in presence of an external oscillating potential. The study of Fano resonances in transmission spectrum is in high demand in respect of localization of charge carriers in graphene nano structures for its potential applications in digital device fabrications.

  10. Electromagnetic coupling of spins and pseudospins in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winkler, R.; Zülicke, U.

    2015-03-01

    We present a theoretical study of bilayer-graphene's electronic properties in the presence of electric and magnetic fields. In contrast to known materials, including single-layer graphene, any possible coupling of physical quantities to components of the electric field has a counterpart where the analogous component of the magnetic field couples to exactly the same quantities. For example, a purely electric spin splitting appears as the magneto-electric analogue of the magnetic Zeeman spin splitting. The measurable thermodynamic response induced by magnetic and electric fields is thus completely symmetric. The Pauli magnetization induced by a magnetic field takes exactly the same functional form as the polarization induced by an electric field. Although they seem counterintuitive, our findings are consistent with fundamental principles such as time reversal symmetry. For example, only a magnetic field can give rise to a macroscopic spin polarization, whereas only a perpendicular electric field can induce a macroscopic polarization of the sublattice-related pseudospin in bilayer graphene. These rules enforced by symmetry for the matter-field interactions clarify the nature of spins versus pseudospins. We have obtained numerical values of prefactors for relevant terms. NSF Grant DMR-1310199 and Marsden Fund Contract No. VUW0719.

  11. Fluorination of Isotopically Labeled Turbostratic and Bernal Stacked Bilayer Graphene

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Ek Weis, Johan; da Costa, Sara; Frank, Otakar; Bastl, Zdeněk; Kalbáč, Martin

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 21, č. 3 (2015), s. 1081-1087 ISSN 1521-3765 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LL1301 Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : fluorination * graphene * bilayers Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry

  12. Realization of free-standing silicene using bilayer graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Neek-Amal, M. [Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen (Belgium); Department of Physics, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Lavizan, Tehran 16785-136 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Sadeghi, A. [Department of Physics, Basel University, Klingelbergestrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel (Switzerland); Berdiyorov, G. R.; Peeters, F. M. [Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen (Belgium)

    2013-12-23

    The available synthesized silicene-like structures have been only realized on metallic substrates which are very different from the standalone buckled silicene, e.g., the Dirac cone of silicene is destroyed due to lattice distortion and the interaction with the substrate. Using graphene bilayer as a scaffold, a route is proposed to synthesize silicene with electronic properties decoupled from the substrate. The buckled hexagonal arrangement of silicene between the graphene layers is found to be very similar to the theoretically predicted standalone buckled silicene which is only very weakly van der Waals coupled to the graphene layers with a graphite-like interlayer distance of 3.42 Å and without any lattice distortion. We found that these stacked layers are stable well above room temperature.

  13. Electronic properties of BN-doped bilayer graphene and graphyne in the presence of electric field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majidi, R.; Karami, A. R.

    2013-11-01

    In the present paper, we have used density functional theory to study electronic properties of bilayer graphene and graphyne doped with B and N impurities in the presence of electric field. It has been demonstrated that a band gap is opened in the band structures of the bilayer graphene and graphyne by B and N doping. We have also investigated influence of electric field on the electronic properties of BN-doped bilayer graphene and graphyne. It is found that the band gaps induced by B and N impurities are increased by applying electric field. Our results reveal that doping with B and N, and applying electric field are an effective method to open and control a band gap which is useful to design carbon-based next-generation electronic devices.

  14. Coherent non-linear optical response in SU(2) symmetry broken single and bilayer graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, Vipin; Enamullah,; Kumar, Upendra; Setlur, Girish S.

    2014-01-01

    Anomalous Rabi oscillations in single and bilayer graphene, in the absence of time-reversal symmetry, are described. The main findings of this work are that intra-layer sublattice space asymmetry has a remarkable effect on anomalous Rabi frequency in single and bilayer graphene, namely it is offset by the asymmetry parameter. However, the conventional Rabi frequency is nearly independent of the asymmetry parameter. Inter-layer asymmetry in bilayer graphene has an even more significant effect on anomalous Rabi frequency. When inter-layer asymmetry is taken into account, the anomalous Rabi frequency versus the external field goes through a minimum. The induced current in the frequency domain in these systems shows a finite threshold behavior even for vanishingly small applied fields. These offset oscillations are attributable to the asymmetry parameter in these systems, and are observable only for weak applied fields. For stronger applied fields these phenomena tend towards those without asymmetry

  15. Band gap opening of bilayer graphene by F4-TCNQ molecular doping and externally applied electric field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Xiaoqing; Xu, Jianbin; Wang, Xiaomu

    2010-09-09

    The band gap opening of bilayer graphene with one side surface adsorption of F4-TCNQ is reported. F4-TCNQ doped bilayer graphene shows p-type semiconductor characteristics. With a F4-TCNQ concentration of 1.3 x 10(-10) mol/cm(2), the charge transfer between each F4-TCNQ molecule and graphene is 0.45e, and the built-in electric field, E(bi), between the graphene layers could reach 0.070 V/A. The charge transfer and band gap opening of the F4-TCNQ-doped graphene can be further modulated by an externally applied electric field (E(ext)). At 0.077 V/A, the gap opening at the Dirac point (K), DeltaE(K) = 306 meV, and the band gap, E(g) = 253 meV, are around 71% and 49% larger than those of the pristine bilayer under the same E(ext).

  16. Spectral properties of excitons in the bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apinyan, V.; Kopeć, T. K.

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the spectral properties of the bilayer graphene with the local excitonic pairing interaction between the electrons and holes. We consider the generalized Hubbard model, which includes both intralayer and interlayer Coulomb interaction parameters. The solution of the excitonic gap parameter is used to calculate the electronic band structure, single-particle spectral functions, the hybridization gap, and the excitonic coherence length in the bilayer graphene. We show that the local interlayer Coulomb interaction is responsible for the semimetal-semiconductor transition in the double layer system, and we calculate the hybridization gap in the band structure above the critical interaction value. The formation of the excitonic band gap is reported as the threshold process and the momentum distribution functions have been calculated numerically. We show that in the weak coupling limit the system is governed by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)-like pairing state. Contrary, in the strong coupling limit the excitonic condensate states appear in the semiconducting phase, by forming the Dirac's pockets in the reciprocal space.

  17. Fabrication of bi-layer graphene and theoretical simulation for its possible application in thin film solar cell.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behura, Sanjay K; Mahala, Pramila; Nayak, Sasmita; Yang, Qiaoqin; Mukhopadhyay, Indrajit; Janil, Omkar

    2014-04-01

    High quality graphene film is fabricated using mechanical exfoliation of highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite. The graphene films on glass substrates are characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. A very high intensity ratio of 2D to G-band (to approximately 1.67) and narrow 2D-band full-width at half maximum (to approximately 40 cm(-1)) correspond to the bi-layer graphene formation. The bi-layer graphene/p-GaN/n-InGaN/n-GaN/GaN/sAl2O3 system is studied theoretically using TCAD Silvaco software, in which the properties of exfoliated bi-layer graphene are used as transparent and conductive film, and the device exhibits an efficiency of 15.24% compared to 13.63% for ITO/p-GaN/n-InGaN/n-GaN/GaN/Al2O3 system.

  18. Formation, Energetics, and Electronic Properties of Graphene Monolayer and Bilayer Doped with Heteroatoms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshitaka Fujimoto

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Doping with heteroatoms is one of the most effective methods to tailor the electronic properties of carbon nanomaterials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, and such nanomaterials doped with heteroatom dopants might therefore provide not only new physical and chemical properties but also novel nanoelectronics/optoelectronics device applications. The boron and nitrogen are neighboring elements to carbon in the periodic table, and they are considered to be good dopants for carbon nanomaterials. We here review the recent work of boron and nitrogen doping effects into graphene monolayer as well as bilayer on the basis of the first-principles electronic structure calculations in the framework of the density-functional theory. We show the energetics and the electronic properties of boron and nitrogen defects in graphene monolayer and bilayer. As for the nitrogen doping, we further discuss the stabilities, the growth processes, and the electronic properties associated with the plausible nitrogen defect formation in graphene which is suggested by experimental observations.

  19. Raman spectra of bilayer graphene covered with Poly(methyl methacrylate) thin film

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xia Minggang [MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Science, Xi' an Jiaotong University, 710049 (China); Center on Experimental Physics, School of Science, Xi' an Jiaotong University, 710049 (China); Su Zhidan; Zhang Shengli [MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Science, Xi' an Jiaotong University, 710049 (China); Department of Applied Physics, School of Science, Xi' an Jiaotong University, 710049 (China)

    2012-09-15

    The Raman spectra of bilayer graphene covered with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were investigated. Both the G and 2D peaks of PMMA-coated graphene were stiff and broad compared with those of uncovered graphene. This could be attributed to the residual strain induced by high-temperature baking during fabrication of the nanodevice. Furthermore, the two 2D peaks stiffened and broadened with increasing laser power, which is just the reverse to uncovered graphene. The stiffness is likely caused by graphene compression induced by the circular bubble of the thin PMMA film generated by laser irradiation. Our findings may contribute to the application of PMMA in the strain engineering of graphene nanodevices.

  20. Raman spectra of bilayer graphene covered with Poly(methyl methacrylate thin film

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Minggang Xia

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The Raman spectra of bilayer graphene covered with poly(methyl methacrylate (PMMA were investigated. Both the G and 2D peaks of PMMA-coated graphene were stiff and broad compared with those of uncovered graphene. This could be attributed to the residual strain induced by high-temperature baking during fabrication of the nanodevice. Furthermore, the two 2D peaks stiffened and broadened with increasing laser power, which is just the reverse to uncovered graphene. The stiffness is likely caused by graphene compression induced by the circular bubble of the thin PMMA film generated by laser irradiation. Our findings may contribute to the application of PMMA in the strain engineering of graphene nanodevices.

  1. AA, bending magnet, BLG

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN PhotoLab

    1980-01-01

    The very particular lattice of the AA required 2 types of dipole (bending magnets; BLG, long and narrow; BST, short and wide). The BLG had a steel length of 4.70 m, a good field width of 0.24 m, and a weight of about 70 t. Jean-Claude Brunet inspects the lower half of a BLG. For the BST magnets see 7811105 and 8006036.

  2. Stacking order dependent mechanical properties of graphene/MoS{sub 2} bilayer and trilayer heterostructures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elder, Robert M., E-mail: robert.elder26.ctr@mail.mil, E-mail: mahesh.neupane.ctr@mail.mil; Neupane, Mahesh R., E-mail: robert.elder26.ctr@mail.mil, E-mail: mahesh.neupane.ctr@mail.mil; Chantawansri, Tanya L. [U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005 (United States)

    2015-08-17

    Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS{sub 2}) are two-dimensional materials that show promise for flexible electronics and piezoelectric applications, but their weak mechanical strength is a barrier to practical use. In this work, we perform nanoindentation simulations using atomistic molecular dynamics to study the mechanical properties of heterostructures formed by combining MoS{sub 2} with graphene. We consider both bi- and tri-layer heterostructures formed with MoS{sub 2} either supported or encapsulated by graphene. Mechanical properties, such as Young's modulus, bending modulus, ultimate tensile strength, and fracture strain, are extracted from nanoindentation simulations and compared to the monolayer and homogeneous bilayer systems. We observed that the heterostructures, regardless of the stacking order, are mechanically more robust than the mono- and bi-layer MoS{sub 2}, mainly due to the mechanical reinforcement provided by the graphene layer. The magnitudes of ultimate strength and fracture strain are similar for both the bi- and tri-layer heterostructures, but substantially larger than either the mono- and bi-layer MoS{sub 2}. Our results demonstrate the potential of graphene-based heterostructures to improve the mechanical properties of TMDC materials.

  3. The effect of spin-orbit coupling in band structure and edge states of bilayer graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sahdan, Muhammad Fauzi; Darma, Yudi, E-mail: yudi@fi.itb.ac.id [Department of Physics, InstitutTeknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132 (Indonesia)

    2015-04-16

    Topological insulators are predicted to be useful ranging from spintronics to quantum computation. Graphene was first predicted to be the precursor of topological insulator by Kane-Mele. They developed a Hamiltonian model to describe the gap opening in graphene. In this work, we investigate the band structure of bilayer grapheme and also its edge states by using this model with analytical approach. The results of our calculation show that the gap opening occurs at K and K’ point in bilayer graphene.In addition, a pair of gapless edge modes occurs both in the zigzag and arm-chair configurations are no longer exist. There are gap created at the edge even though thery are very small.

  4. Interaction between the intrinsic edge state and the helical boundary state of topological insulator phase in bilayer graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lü, Xiaoling [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022 (China); Jiang, Liwei [National Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Department of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130012 (China); Zheng, Yisong, E-mail: zhengys@jlu.edu.cn [National Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Department of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130012 (China)

    2016-04-22

    Graphene has intrinsic edge states localized at zigzag edge or lattice defect. Helical boundary states can also be established in such a two-dimensional carbon material at the boundary of topological insulator (TI) phase realized by the extrinsic Rashba spin–orbital coupling (SOC) in gated bilayer graphene. We theoretically investigate the interaction between these two kinds of edge (boundary) states when they coexist in a bilayer graphene. We find that this interaction gives rise to some very interesting results. In a zigzag edged nanoribbon of bilayer graphene, it is possible that the TI helical state does not localize at the TI phase boundary. Instead it moves to the nanoribbon edge even though the SOC is absent therein. In a bulk lattice of bilayer graphene embedded with two line defects, the numbers of helical state subbands at the two line defects are not equal to each other. In such a case, the backscattering lacking is still forbidden since the Kramers pairs are valley polarized. - Highlights: • The TI helical state moves to nanoribbon edge in a gated ZENR-BG. • The gapless modes of LD-BG at the two line defects are not equal to each other. • The Kramers pairs are still valley polarized in a gated LD-BG.

  5. Incorporating isolated molybdenum (Mo) atoms into Bilayer Epitaxial Graphene on 4H-SiC(0001)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Han; Wan, Wen; Li, Hui; Wong, Swee Liang; Lv, Lu; Gao, Yongli; Wee, Andrew T. S.

    2014-03-01

    The atomic structures and electronic properties of isolated Mo atoms in bilayer epitaxial graphene (BLEG) on 4H-SiC(0001) are investigated by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (LT-STM). LT-STM results reveal that isolated Mo dopants prefer to substitute C atoms at α-sites, and preferentially locate between the graphene bilayers. First-principles calculations confirm that the embedding of single Mo dopants within BLEG is energetically favorable as compared to monolayer graphene. The calculated bandstructures show that Mo-doped BLEG is n-doped, and each Mo atom introduces a local magnetic moment of 1.81 μB. Our findings demonstrate a simple and stable method to incorporate single transition metal dopants into the graphene lattice to tune its electronic and magnetic properties for possible use in graphene spin devices. NRF-CRP (Singapore) grants R-143-000-360-281and R-144-000-295-281. ``Shenghua Professorship'' startup funding from CSU and the support from the NSF of China (Grant No.11304398).

  6. Edge functionalised & Li-intercalated 555-777 defective bilayer graphene for the adsorption of CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lalitha, Murugan [School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, QLD (Australia); Department of Physics, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore 641046, Tamil Nadu (India); Lakshmipathi, Senthilkumar, E-mail: lsenthilkumar@buc.edu.in [School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, QLD (Australia); Department of Physics, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore 641046, Tamil Nadu (India); Bhatia, Suresh K., E-mail: s.bhatia@uq.edu.au [School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, QLD (Australia)

    2017-04-01

    Highlights: • DV defect in fluorinated graphene sheet enhances hydrophobicity. • Intercalation of Li atom decreases the separation in bilayer graphene sheets. • Bernal stacking increases hydrophobicity of the bilayer graphene sheets. - Abstract: The adsorption of CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O on divacanacy (DV) defected graphene cluster, and its bilayer counterpart is investigated using first-principles calculations. Both single and bilayer DV graphene cluster, are functionalised with H and F atoms. On these sheets the gas molecules are physisorbed, and the divacancy defect effectively improves the adsorption of CO{sub 2}, while fluorination enhances the hydrophobicity of the graphene cluster. Among the convex and concave curvature regions induced due to the DV defect, the adsorption of the gas molecules on the concave meniscus is more favourable. Fluorine termination induces 73% reduction in Henry law constants for H{sub 2}O, while for the CO{sub 2} molecule it increases by 8%, which indicates the DV defective sheet is a better candidate for CO{sub 2} capture compared to the STW defective sheet. Besides, both AA and AB divacant defect bilayer sheets are equally stable, wherein AA stacking results in a cavity between the sheets, while in AB stacking, the layers slide one over the other. Nevertheless, both these bilayer sheets are comparatively stabler than the monolayer. However, intercalation of lithium decreases the interlayer separation, particularly in AA stacking, which enhances the CO{sub 2} adsorption, but in the Bernal stacking enhances it hydrophobicity.

  7. Aharonov-Bohm effect in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Chang-Soo

    2017-06-01

    We investigate Aharonov-Bohm effect in bilayer graphene. We consider a setup of n- p (n‧)-n junction with Aharonov-Bohm loop connected in the transmission region. In the presence of trigonal warping we show that, due to the anisotropic dispersion of eigenspectrum, the Aharonov-Bohm interference depends on the geometry of junction: it exists for armchair interface but vanishes for zigzag interface. For the armchair interface, it is demonstrated that the period of Aharonov-Bohm oscillation is Φ0 = h / e and the amplitude of oscillation can be varied with incident energy and the barrier height of the junction.

  8. Changes in work function due to NO2 adsorption on monolayer and bilayer epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caffrey, Nuala M.; Armiento, Rickard; Yakimova, Rositsa; Abrikosov, Igor A.

    2016-11-01

    The electronic properties of monolayer graphene grown epitaxially on SiC(0001) are known to be highly sensitive to the presence of NO2 molecules. The presence of small areas of bilayer graphene, on the other hand, considerably reduces the overall sensitivity of the surface. We investigate how NO2 molecules interact with monolayer and bilayer graphene, both free-standing and on a SiC(0001) substrate. We show that it is necessary to explicitly include the effect of the substrate in order to reproduce the experimental results. When monolayer graphene is present on SiC, there is a large charge transfer from the interface between the buffer layer and the SiC substrate to the molecule. As a result, the surface work function increases by 0.9 eV after molecular adsorption. A graphene bilayer is more effective at screening this interfacial charge, and so the charge transfer and change in work function after NO2 adsorption is much smaller.

  9. Ultrafast carrier dynamics in bilayer graphene studied by broadband infrared pump-probe spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Limmer, Thomas; da Como, Enrico; Niggebaum, Alexander; Feldmann, Jochen

    2010-03-01

    Recently, bilayer graphene gained a large interest because of its electrically tunable gap appearing in the middle infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This feature is expected to open a number of applications of bilayer graphene in optoelectronics. In this communication we report on the first pump-probe experiment on a single bilayer flake with an unprecedented probe photon energy interval (0.25 -- 1.3 eV). Single flakes were prepared by mechanical exfoliation of graphite and transferred to calcium fluoride substrates. When illuminated with 800 nm (1.5 eV) pump pulses the induced change in transmission shows an ultrafast saturation of the interband transitions from 1.3 to 0.5 eV. In this energy range the saturation recovery occurs within 3 ps and is consistent with an ultrafast relaxation of hot carriers. Interestingly, we report on the observation of a resonance at 0.4 eV characterized by a longer dynamics. The results are discussed considering many-body interactions.

  10. Bilayer Graphene Application on NO2 Sensor Modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elnaz Akbari

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Graphene is one of the carbon allotropes which is a single atom thin layer with sp2 hybridized and two-dimensional (2D honeycomb structure of carbon. As an outstanding material exhibiting unique mechanical, electrical, and chemical characteristics including high strength, high conductivity, and high surface area, graphene has earned a remarkable position in today’s experimental and theoretical studies as well as industrial applications. One such application incorporates the idea of using graphene to achieve accuracy and higher speed in detection devices utilized in cases where gas sensing is required. Although there are plenty of experimental studies in this field, the lack of analytical models is felt deeply. To start with modelling, the field effect transistor- (FET- based structure has been chosen to serve as the platform and bilayer graphene density of state variation effect by NO2 injection has been discussed. The chemical reaction between graphene and gas creates new carriers in graphene which cause density changes and eventually cause changes in the carrier velocity. In the presence of NO2 gas, electrons are donated to the FET channel which is employed as a sensing mechanism. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed models, the results obtained are compared with the existing experimental data and acceptable agreement is reported.

  11. Strongly Enhanced Tunneling at Total Charge Neutrality in Double-Bilayer Graphene-WSe_{2} Heterostructures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burg, G William; Prasad, Nitin; Kim, Kyounghwan; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; MacDonald, Allan H; Register, Leonard F; Tutuc, Emanuel

    2018-04-27

    We report the experimental observation of strongly enhanced tunneling between graphene bilayers through a WSe_{2} barrier when the graphene bilayers are populated with carriers of opposite polarity and equal density. The enhanced tunneling increases sharply in strength with decreasing temperature, and the tunneling current exhibits a vertical onset as a function of interlayer voltage at a temperature of 1.5 K. The strongly enhanced tunneling at overall neutrality departs markedly from single-particle model calculations that otherwise match the measured tunneling current-voltage characteristics well, and suggests the emergence of a many-body state with condensed interbilayer excitons when electrons and holes of equal densities populate the two layers.

  12. Strongly Enhanced Tunneling at Total Charge Neutrality in Double-Bilayer Graphene-WSe2 Heterostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burg, G. William; Prasad, Nitin; Kim, Kyounghwan; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; MacDonald, Allan H.; Register, Leonard F.; Tutuc, Emanuel

    2018-04-01

    We report the experimental observation of strongly enhanced tunneling between graphene bilayers through a WSe2 barrier when the graphene bilayers are populated with carriers of opposite polarity and equal density. The enhanced tunneling increases sharply in strength with decreasing temperature, and the tunneling current exhibits a vertical onset as a function of interlayer voltage at a temperature of 1.5 K. The strongly enhanced tunneling at overall neutrality departs markedly from single-particle model calculations that otherwise match the measured tunneling current-voltage characteristics well, and suggests the emergence of a many-body state with condensed interbilayer excitons when electrons and holes of equal densities populate the two layers.

  13. A dilute Cu(Ni) alloy for synthesis of large-area Bernal stacked bilayer graphene using atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Madito, M. J.; Bello, A.; Dangbegnon, J. K.; Momodu, D. Y.; Masikhwa, T. M.; Barzegar, F.; Manyala, N., E-mail: ncholu.manyala@up.ac.za [Department of Physics, Institute of Applied Materials, SARCHI Chair in Carbon Technology and Materials, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028 (South Africa); Oliphant, C. J.; Jordaan, W. A. [National Metrology Institute of South Africa, Private Bag X34, Lynwood Ridge, Pretoria 0040 (South Africa); Fabiane, M. [Department of Physics, Institute of Applied Materials, SARCHI Chair in Carbon Technology and Materials, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028 (South Africa); Department of Physics, National University of Lesotho, P.O. Roma 180 (Lesotho)

    2016-01-07

    A bilayer graphene film obtained on copper (Cu) foil is known to have a significant fraction of non-Bernal (AB) stacking and on copper/nickel (Cu/Ni) thin films is known to grow over a large-area with AB stacking. In this study, annealed Cu foils for graphene growth were doped with small concentrations of Ni to obtain dilute Cu(Ni) alloys in which the hydrocarbon decomposition rate of Cu will be enhanced by Ni during synthesis of large-area AB-stacked bilayer graphene using atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition. The Ni doped concentration and the Ni homogeneous distribution in Cu foil were confirmed with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and proton-induced X-ray emission. An electron backscatter diffraction map showed that Cu foils have a single (001) surface orientation which leads to a uniform growth rate on Cu surface in early stages of graphene growth and also leads to a uniform Ni surface concentration distribution through segregation kinetics. The increase in Ni surface concentration in foils was investigated with time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The quality of graphene, the number of graphene layers, and the layers stacking order in synthesized bilayer graphene films were confirmed by Raman and electron diffraction measurements. A four point probe station was used to measure the sheet resistance of graphene films. As compared to Cu foil, the prepared dilute Cu(Ni) alloy demonstrated the good capability of growing large-area AB-stacked bilayer graphene film by increasing Ni content in Cu surface layer.

  14. Electrical conductivity of Dirac/Schrödinger hybrid electron systems at finite temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khanh, Nguyen Quoc; Linh, Dang Khanh

    2018-04-01

    We calculate the dielectric function of a system composed of a Bernal bilayer graphene (BLG) and an ordinary two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), separated by a spacer, as a function of temperature T, interlayer distance d and spacer dielectric constant ε2 . Based on the results for dielectric function, we calculate the finite-temperature electrical conductivity of the first layer in presence of the second one due to the screened Coulomb scattering. We also compare our results with those of BLG-BLG, BLG systems and study the effect of 2DEG materials on the conductivity.

  15. Classic and Quantum Capacitances in Bernal Bilayer and Trilayer Graphene Field Effect Transistor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hatef Sadeghi

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Our focus in this study is on characterizing the capacitance voltage (C-V behavior of Bernal stacking bilayer graphene (BG and trilayer graphene (TG as the channel of FET devices. The analytical models of quantum capacitance (QC of BG and TG are presented. Although QC is smaller than the classic capacitance in conventional devices, its contribution to the total metal oxide semiconductor capacitor in graphene-based FET devices becomes significant in the nanoscale. Our calculation shows that QC increases with gate voltage in both BG and TG and decreases with temperature with some fluctuations. However, in bilayer graphene the fluctuation is higher due to its tunable band structure with external electric fields. In similar temperature and size, QC in metal oxide BG is higher than metal oxide TG configuration. Moreover, in both BG and TG, total capacitance is more affected by classic capacitance as the distance between gate electrode and channel increases. However, QC is more dominant when the channel becomes thinner into the nanoscale, and therefore we mostly deal with quantum capacitance in top gate in contrast with bottom gate that the classic capacitance is dominant.

  16. Helical edge states and fractional quantum Hall effect in a graphene electron-hole bilayer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanchez-Yamagishi, Javier D; Luo, Jason Y; Young, Andrea F; Hunt, Benjamin M; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Ashoori, Raymond C; Jarillo-Herrero, Pablo

    2017-02-01

    Helical 1D electronic systems are a promising route towards realizing circuits of topological quantum states that exhibit non-Abelian statistics. Here, we demonstrate a versatile platform to realize 1D systems made by combining quantum Hall (QH) edge states of opposite chiralities in a graphene electron-hole bilayer at moderate magnetic fields. Using this approach, we engineer helical 1D edge conductors where the counterpropagating modes are localized in separate electron and hole layers by a tunable electric field. These helical conductors exhibit strong non-local transport signals and suppressed backscattering due to the opposite spin polarizations of the counterpropagating modes. Unlike other approaches used for realizing helical states, the graphene electron-hole bilayer can be used to build new 1D systems incorporating fractional edge states. Indeed, we are able to tune the bilayer devices into a regime hosting fractional and integer edge states of opposite chiralities, paving the way towards 1D helical conductors with fractional quantum statistics.

  17. Tunable phonon-induced transparency in bilayer graphene nanoribbons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Hugen; Low, Tony; Guinea, Francisco; Xia, Fengnian; Avouris, Phaedon

    2014-08-13

    In the phenomenon of plasmon-induced transparency, which is a classical analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in atomic gases, the coherent interference between two plasmon modes results in an optical transparency window in a broad absorption spectrum. With the requirement of contrasting lifetimes, typically one of the plasmon modes involved is a dark mode that has limited coupling to the electromagnetic radiation and possesses relatively longer lifetime. Plasmon-induced transparency not only leads to light transmission at otherwise opaque frequency regions but also results in the slowing of light group velocity and enhanced optical nonlinearity. In this article, we report an analogous behavior, denoted as phonon-induced transparency (PIT), in AB-stacked bilayer graphene nanoribbons. Here, light absorption due to the plasmon excitation is suppressed in a narrow window due to the coupling with the infrared active Γ-point optical phonon, whose function here is similar to that of the dark plasmon mode in the plasmon-induced transparency. We further show that PIT in bilayer graphene is actively tunable by electrostatic gating and estimate a maximum slow light factor of around 500 at the phonon frequency of 1580 cm(-1), based on the measured spectra. Our demonstration opens an avenue for the exploration of few-photon nonlinear optics and slow light in this novel two-dimensional material.

  18. Large-scale uniform bilayer graphene prepared by vacuum graphitization of 6H-SiC(0001) substrates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Qingyan; Zhang, Wenhao; Wang, Lili; He, Ke; Ma, Xucun; Xue, Qikun

    2013-03-01

    We report on the preparation of large-scale uniform bilayer graphenes on nominally flat Si-polar 6H-SiC(0001) substrates by flash annealing in ultrahigh vacuum. The resulting graphenes have a single thickness of one bilayer and consist of regular terraces separated by the triple SiC bilayer steps on the 6H-SiC(0001) substrates. In situ scanning tunneling microscopy reveals that suppression of pit formation on terraces and uniformity of SiC decomposition at step edges are the key factors to the uniform thickness. By studying the surface morphologies prepared under different annealing rates, it is found that the annealing rate is directly related to SiC decomposition, diffusion of the released Si/C atoms and strain relaxation, which together determine the final step structure and density of defects.

  19. Spin-resolved conductance of Dirac electrons through multibarrier arrays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahal, Dipendra; Gumbs, Godfrey; Iurov, Andrii

    We use a transfer matrix method to calculate the transmission coefficient of Dirac electrons through an arbitrary number of square potential barrier in gapped monolayer graphene(MLG) and bilayer graphene (BLG). The widths of barriers may not be chosen equal. The shift in the angle of incidence and the width of the barrier required for resonance are investigated numerically for both MLG and BLG. We compare the effects due to energy gap on these two transmission coefficient for each of these two structures (MLG and BLG). We present our results as functions of barrier width, height as well as incoming electron energy as well as band gap and examine the conditions for which perfect reflection or transmission occurs. Our transmission data are further used to calculate conductivity.

  20. Insitu CCVD grown bilayer graphene transistors for applications in nanoelectronics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wessely, Pia Juliane; Schwalke, Udo

    2014-01-01

    We invented a method to fabricate graphene field effect transistors (GFETs) on oxidized silicon wafers in a Silicon CMOS compatible process. The graphene layers needed are grown in situ by means of a transfer-free catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) process directly on silicon dioxide. Depending on the process parameters the fabrication of single, double or multi-layer graphene FETs (GFETs) is possible. The produced graphene layers have been characterized by SEM, TEM, TEM-lattice analysis as well as Raman-Spectroscopy. Directly after growth, the fabricated GFETs are electrically functional and can be electrically characterized via the catalyst metals which are used as contact electrodes. In contrast to monolayer graphene FETs, the fabricated bilayer graphene FETs (BiLGFETs) exhibit unipolar p-type MOSFET behavior. Furthermore, the on/off current-ratio of 10 4 up to several 10 7 at room temperature of the fabricated BiLGFETs allows their use in digital logic applications [1]. In addition, a stable hysteresis of the GFETs enables their use as memory devices without the need of storage capacitors and therefore very high memory device-densities are possible. The whole fabrication process is fully Si-CMOS compatible, enabling the use of hybrid silicon/graphene electronics.

  1. Hybrid matrix method for stable numerical analysis of the propagation of Dirac electrons in gapless bilayer graphene superlattices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briones-Torres, J. A.; Pernas-Salomón, R.; Pérez-Álvarez, R.; Rodríguez-Vargas, I.

    2016-05-01

    Gapless bilayer graphene (GBG), like monolayer graphene, is a material system with unique properties, such as anti-Klein tunneling and intrinsic Fano resonances. These properties rely on the gapless parabolic dispersion relation and the chiral nature of bilayer graphene electrons. In addition, propagating and evanescent electron states coexist inherently in this material, giving rise to these exotic properties. In this sense, bilayer graphene is unique, since in most material systems in which Fano resonance phenomena are manifested an external source that provides extended states is required. However, from a numerical standpoint, the presence of evanescent-divergent states in the eigenfunctions linear superposition representing the Dirac spinors, leads to a numerical degradation (the so called Ωd problem) in the practical applications of the standard Coefficient Transfer Matrix (K) method used to study charge transport properties in Bilayer Graphene based multi-barrier systems. We present here a straightforward procedure based in the hybrid compliance-stiffness matrix method (H) that can overcome this numerical degradation. Our results show that in contrast to standard matrix method, the proposed H method is suitable to study the transmission and transport properties of electrons in GBG superlattice since it remains numerically stable regardless the size of the superlattice and the range of values taken by the input parameters: the energy and angle of the incident electrons, the barrier height and the thickness and number of barriers. We show that the matrix determinant can be used as a test of the numerical accuracy in real calculations.

  2. The electronic transport properties of defected bilayer sliding armchair graphene nanoribbons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadi, Amin; Haji-Nasiri, Saeed

    2018-04-01

    By applying non-equilibrium Green's functions (NEGF) in combination with tight-binding (TB) model, we investigate and compare the electronic transport properties of perfect and defected bilayer armchair graphene nanoribbons (BAGNRs) under finite bias. Two typical defects which are placed in the middle of top layer (i.e. single vacancy (SV) and stone wale (SW) defects) are examined. The results reveal that in both perfect and defected bilayers, the maximum current refers to β-AB, AA and α-AB stacking orders, respectively, since the intermolecular interactions are stronger in them. Moreover it is observed that a SV decreases the current in all stacking orders, but the effects of a SW defect is nearly unpredictable. Besides, we introduced a sequential switching behavior and the effects of defects on the switching performance is studied as well. We found that a SW defect can significantly improve the switching behavior of a bilayer system. Transmission spectrum, band structure, molecular energy spectrum and molecular projected self-consistent Hamiltonian (MPSH) are analyzed subsequently to understand the electronic transport properties of these bilayer devices which can be used in developing nano-scale bilayer systems.

  3. Addressing Raman features of individual layers in isotopically labeled Bernal stacked bilayer graphene

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    da Costa, Sara; Ek Weis, Johan; Frank, Otakar; Fridrichová, Michaela; Kalbáč, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 3, č. 2 (2016), 025022 ISSN 2053-1583 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LL1301 Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : graphene bilayer * Raman spectroscopy * isotope labeling Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 6.937, year: 2016

  4. Influence of carrier density on the electronic cooling channels of bilayer graphene

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Limmer, T.; Houtepen, A.J.; Niggebaum, A.; Tautz, R.; Da Como, E.

    2011-01-01

    We study the electronic cooling dynamics in a single flake of bilayer graphene by femtosecond transient absorption probing the photon-energy range 0.25–1.3 eV. From the transients, we extract the carrier cooling curves for different initial temperatures and densities of the photoexcited electrons

  5. Gate-defined Quantum Confinement in Suspended Bilayer Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Monica

    2013-03-01

    Quantum confined devices in carbon-based materials offer unique possibilities for applications ranging from quantum computation to sensing. In particular, nanostructured carbon is a promising candidate for spin-based quantum computation due to the ability to suppress hyperfine coupling to nuclear spins, a dominant source of spin decoherence. Yet graphene lacks an intrinsic bandgap, which poses a serious challenge for the creation of such devices. We present a novel approach to quantum confinement utilizing tunnel barriers defined by local electric fields that break sublattice symmetry in suspended bilayer graphene. This technique electrostatically confines charges via band structure control, thereby eliminating the edge and substrate disorder that hinders on-chip etched nanostructures to date. We report clean single electron tunneling through gate-defined quantum dots in two regimes: at zero magnetic field using the energy gap induced by a perpendicular electric field and at finite magnetic fields using Landau level confinement. The observed Coulomb blockade periodicity agrees with electrostatic simulations based on local top-gate geometry, a direct demonstration of local control over the band structure of graphene. This technology integrates quantum confinement with pristine device quality and access to vibrational modes, enabling wide applications from electromechanical sensors to quantum bits. More broadly, the ability to externally tailor the graphene bandgap over nanometer scales opens a new unexplored avenue for creating quantum devices.

  6. DC conductivity of twisted bilayer graphene: Angle-dependent transport properties and effects of disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andelković, M.; Covaci, L.; Peeters, F. M.

    2018-03-01

    The in-plane dc conductivity of twisted bilayer graphene is calculated using an expansion of the real-space Kubo-Bastin conductivity in terms of Chebyshev polynomials. We investigate within a tight-binding approach the transport properties as a function of rotation angle, applied perpendicular electric field, and vacancy disorder. We find that for high-angle twists, the two layers are effectively decoupled, and the minimum conductivity at the Dirac point corresponds to double the value observed in monolayer graphene. This remains valid even in the presence of vacancies, hinting that chiral symmetry is still preserved. On the contrary, for low twist angles, the conductivity at the Dirac point depends on the twist angle and is not protected in the presence of disorder. Furthermore, for low angles and in the presence of an applied electric field, we find that the chiral boundary states emerging between AB and BA regions contribute to the dc conductivity, despite the appearance of localized states in the AA regions. The results agree qualitatively with recent transport experiments in low-angle twisted bilayer graphene.

  7. Superluminal plasmons with resonant gain in population inverted bilayer graphene

    KAUST Repository

    Low, Tony

    2017-12-28

    AB-stacked bilayer graphene with a tunable electronic bandgap in excess of the optical phonon energy presents an interesting active medium, and we consider such theoretical possibility in this work. We argue the possibility of a highly resonant optical gain in the vicinity of the asymmetry gap. Associated with this resonant gain are strongly amplified plasmons, plasmons with negative group velocity and superluminal effects, as well as directional leaky modes.

  8. Superluminal plasmons with resonant gain in population inverted bilayer graphene

    KAUST Repository

    Low, Tony; Chen, Pai-Yen; Basov, D. N.

    2017-01-01

    AB-stacked bilayer graphene with a tunable electronic bandgap in excess of the optical phonon energy presents an interesting active medium, and we consider such theoretical possibility in this work. We argue the possibility of a highly resonant optical gain in the vicinity of the asymmetry gap. Associated with this resonant gain are strongly amplified plasmons, plasmons with negative group velocity and superluminal effects, as well as directional leaky modes.

  9. Graphene on graphene antidot lattices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gregersen, Søren Schou; Pedersen, Jesper Goor; Power, Stephen

    2015-01-01

    Graphene bilayer systems are known to exhibit a band gap when the layer symmetry is broken by applying a perpendicular electric field. The resulting band structure resembles that of a conventional semiconductor with a parabolic dispersion. Here, we introduce a bilayer graphene heterostructure......, where single-layer graphene is placed on top of another layer of graphene with a regular lattice of antidots. We dub this class of graphene systems GOAL: graphene on graphene antidot lattice. By varying the structure geometry, band-structure engineering can be performed to obtain linearly dispersing...

  10. Phonon-induced renormalization of the electron spectrum of biased bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kryuchkov, S. V.; Kukhar, E. I.

    2018-05-01

    The effect of the electron-phonon interaction on the electron subsystem of the bilayer graphene has been investigated in the case when there is a potential bias between the graphene layers. The electron-phonon interaction has been shown to lead to increasing of the curvature of the lower dispersion branch of the conduction band of the bigraphene in the vicinity of the Dirac point. The latter corresponds to the decreasing of the absolute value of the electron effective mass. The corresponding correction to the effective mass has been calculated. Dependence of this correction on the bias has been investigated. Influence of such effect on the bigraphene conductivity is discussed.

  11. Controlling the layer localization of gapless states in bilayer graphene with a gate voltage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaskólski, W.; Pelc, M.; Bryant, Garnett W.; Chico, Leonor; Ayuela, A.

    2018-04-01

    Experiments in gated bilayer graphene with stacking domain walls present topological gapless states protected by no-valley mixing. Here we research these states under gate voltages using atomistic models, which allow us to elucidate their origin. We find that the gate potential controls the layer localization of the two states, which switches non-trivially between layers depending on the applied gate voltage magnitude. We also show how these bilayer gapless states arise from bands of single-layer graphene by analyzing the formation of carbon bonds between layers. Based on this analysis we provide a model Hamiltonian with analytical solutions, which explains the layer localization as a function of the ratio between the applied potential and interlayer hopping. Our results open a route for the manipulation of gapless states in electronic devices, analogous to the proposed writing and reading memories in topological insulators.

  12. Local electric field screening in bi-layer graphene devices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vishal ePanchal

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available We present experimental studies of both local and macroscopic electrical effects in uniform single- (1LG and bi-layer graphene (2LG devices as well as in devices with non-uniform graphene coverage, under ambient conditions. DC transport measurements on sub-micron scale Hall bar devices were used to show a linear rise in carrier density with increasing amounts of 2LG coverage. Electrical scanning gate microscopy was used to locally top gate uniform and non-uniform devices in order to observe the effect of local electrical gating. We experimentally show a significant level of electric field screening by 2LG. We demonstrate that SGM technique is an extremely useful research tool for studies of local screening effects, which provides a complementary view on phenomena that are usually considered only within a macroscopic experimental scheme.

  13. [BLG gene knockout and hLF gene knock-in at BLG locus in goat by TALENs].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Shaozheng; Zhu, Mengmin; Yuan, Yuguo; Rong, Yao; Xu, Sheng; Chen, Si; Mei, Junyan; Cheng, Yong

    2016-03-01

    To knock out β-lactoglobulin (BLG) gene and insert human lactoferrin (hLF) coding sequence at BLG locus of goat, the transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN) mediated recombination was used to edit the BLG gene of goat fetal fibroblast, then as donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer. We designed a pair of specific plasmid TALEN-3-L/R for goat BLG exon III recognition sites, and BLC14-TK vector containing a negative selection gene HSV-TK, was used for the knock in of hLF gene. TALENs plasmids were transfected into the goat fetal fibroblast cells, and the cells were screened three days by 2 μg/mL puromycin. DNA cleavage activities of cells were verified by PCR amplification and DNA production sequencing. Then, targeting vector BLC14-TK and plasmids TALEN-3-L/R were co-transfected into goat fetal fibroblasts, both 700 μg/mL G418 and 2 μg/mL GCV were simultaneously used to screen G418-resistant cells. Detections of integration and recombination were implemented to obtain cells with hLF gene site-specific integration. We chose targeting cells as donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer. The mutagenicity of TALEN-3-L/R was between 25% and 30%. A total of 335 reconstructed embryos with 6 BLG-/hLF+ targeting cell lines were transferred into 16 recipient goats. There were 9 pregnancies confirmed by ultrasound on day 30 to 35 (pregnancy rate of 39.1%), and one of 50-day-old fetus with BLG-/hLF+ was achieved. These results provide the basis for hLF gene knock-in at BLG locus of goat and cultivating transgenic goat of low allergens and rich hLF in the milk.

  14. Edge functionalised & Li-intercalated 555-777 defective bilayer graphene for the adsorption of CO2 and H2O

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lalitha, Murugan; Lakshmipathi, Senthilkumar; Bhatia, Suresh K.

    2017-04-01

    The adsorption of CO2 and H2O on divacanacy (DV) defected graphene cluster, and its bilayer counterpart is investigated using first-principles calculations. Both single and bilayer DV graphene cluster, are functionalised with H and F atoms. On these sheets the gas molecules are physisorbed, and the divacancy defect effectively improves the adsorption of CO2, while fluorination enhances the hydrophobicity of the graphene cluster. Among the convex and concave curvature regions induced due to the DV defect, the adsorption of the gas molecules on the concave meniscus is more favourable. Fluorine termination induces 73% reduction in Henry law constants for H2O, while for the CO2 molecule it increases by 8%, which indicates the DV defective sheet is a better candidate for CO2 capture compared to the STW defective sheet. Besides, both AA and AB divacant defect bilayer sheets are equally stable, wherein AA stacking results in a cavity between the sheets, while in AB stacking, the layers slide one over the other. Nevertheless, both these bilayer sheets are comparatively stabler than the monolayer. However, intercalation of lithium decreases the interlayer separation, particularly in AA stacking, which enhances the CO2 adsorption, but in the Bernal stacking enhances it hydrophobicity.

  15. Tunable metal-insulator transitions in bilayer graphene by thermal annealing

    OpenAIRE

    Kalon, Gopinadhan; Shin, Young Jun; Yang, Hyunsoo

    2012-01-01

    Tunable and highly reproducible metal-insulator transitions have been observed in bilayer graphene upon thermal annealing at 400 K under high vacuum conditions. Before annealing, the sample is metallic in the whole temperature regime of study. Upon annealing, the conductivity changes from metallic to that of an insulator and the transition temperature is a function of annealing time. The pristine metallic state can be reinstated by exposing to air thereby inducing changes in the electronic pr...

  16. Enhanced Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Graphene/ZnO Nanoparticles Bilayer Structure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chih-Hung Hsu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This study reports characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs with graphene/ZnO nanoparticle bilayer structure. The enhancement of the performance of DSSCs achieved using graphene/ZnO nanoparticle films is attributable to the introduction of an electron-extraction layer and absorption of light in the visible range and especially in the range 300–420 nm. DSSC that was fabricated with graphene/ZnO nanoparticle film composite photoanodes exhibited a Voc of 0.5 V, a Jsc of 17.5 mA/cm2, an FF of 0.456, and a calculated η of 3.98%.

  17. Topological induced valley polarization in bilayer graphene/Boron Nitride

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basile, Leonardo; Idrobo, Juan C.

    2015-03-01

    Novel electronic devices relay in our ability to control internal quantum degrees of freedom of the electron e.g., its spin. The valley number degree of freedom is a pseudospin that labels degenerate eigenstates at local maximum/minimum on the valence/conduction band. Valley polarization, that is, selective electronic localization in a momentum valley and its manipulation can be achieved by means of circular polarized light (CPL) in a system with strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC). In this talk, we will show theoretically that despite the fact that neither graphene or BN have a strong SOC, a bilayer of graphene on BN oriented at a twist angle has different absorption for right- and left- CPL. This induced polarization occurs due to band folding of the electronic bands, i.e., it has a topological origin. This research was supported EPN multidisciplinary grant and by DOE SUFD MSED.

  18. Twisting dirac fermions: circular dichroism in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suárez Morell, E.; Chico, Leonor; Brey, Luis

    2017-09-01

    Twisted bilayer graphene is a chiral system which has been recently shown to present circular dichroism. In this work we show that the origin of this optical activity is the rotation of the Dirac fermions’ helicities in the top and bottom layer. Starting from the Kubo formula, we obtain a compact expression for the Hall conductivity that takes into account the dephasing of the electromagnetic field between the top and bottom layers and gathers all the symmetries of the system. Our results are based in both a continuum and a tight-binding model, and they can be generalized to any two-dimensional Dirac material with a chiral stacking between layers.

  19. Suppression of Quasiparticle Scattering Signals in Bilayer Graphene Due to Layer Polarization and Destructive Interference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolie, Wouter; Lux, Jonathan; Pörtner, Mathias; Dombrowski, Daniela; Herbig, Charlotte; Knispel, Timo; Simon, Sabina; Michely, Thomas; Rosch, Achim; Busse, Carsten

    2018-03-09

    We study chemically gated bilayer graphene using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy complemented by tight-binding calculations. Gating is achieved by intercalating Cs between bilayer graphene and Ir(111), thereby shifting the conduction band minima below the chemical potential. Scattering between electronic states (both intraband and interband) is detected via quasiparticle interference. However, not all expected processes are visible in our experiment. We uncover two general effects causing this suppression: first, intercalation leads to an asymmetrical distribution of the states within the two layers, which significantly reduces the scanning tunneling spectroscopy signal of standing waves mainly present in the lower layer; second, forward scattering processes, connecting points on the constant energy contours with parallel velocities, do not produce pronounced standing waves due to destructive interference. We present a theory to describe the interference signal for a general n-band material.

  20. Suppression of Quasiparticle Scattering Signals in Bilayer Graphene Due to Layer Polarization and Destructive Interference

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolie, Wouter; Lux, Jonathan; Pörtner, Mathias; Dombrowski, Daniela; Herbig, Charlotte; Knispel, Timo; Simon, Sabina; Michely, Thomas; Rosch, Achim; Busse, Carsten

    2018-03-01

    We study chemically gated bilayer graphene using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy complemented by tight-binding calculations. Gating is achieved by intercalating Cs between bilayer graphene and Ir(111), thereby shifting the conduction band minima below the chemical potential. Scattering between electronic states (both intraband and interband) is detected via quasiparticle interference. However, not all expected processes are visible in our experiment. We uncover two general effects causing this suppression: first, intercalation leads to an asymmetrical distribution of the states within the two layers, which significantly reduces the scanning tunneling spectroscopy signal of standing waves mainly present in the lower layer; second, forward scattering processes, connecting points on the constant energy contours with parallel velocities, do not produce pronounced standing waves due to destructive interference. We present a theory to describe the interference signal for a general n -band material.

  1. Electrostatic and magnetic fields in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jellal, Ahmed; Redouani, Ilham; Bahlouli, Hocine

    2015-08-01

    We compute the transmission probability through rectangular potential barriers and p-n junctions in the presence of a magnetic and electric fields in bilayer graphene taking into account contributions from the full four bands of the energy spectrum. For energy E higher than the interlayer coupling γ1 (E >γ1) two propagation modes are available for transport giving rise to four possible ways for transmission and reflection coefficients. However, when the energy is less than the height of the barrier the Dirac fermions exhibit transmission resonances and only one mode of propagation is available for transport. We study the effect of the interlayer electrostatic potential denoted by δ and variations of different barrier geometry parameters on the transmission probability.

  2. Gate-controlled tunneling of quantum Hall edge states in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Jun; Li, Jing; Wen, Hua

    Controlled tunneling of integer and fractional quantum Hall edge states provides a powerful tool to probe the physics of 1D systems and exotic particle statistics. Experiments in GaAs 2DEGs employ either a quantum point contact or a line junction tunnel barrier. It is generally difficult to independently control the filling factors νL and νR on the two sides of the barrier. Here we show that in bilayer graphene both νL and νR as well as their Landau level structures can be independently controlled using a dual-split-gate structure. In addition, the height of the line-junction tunnel barrier implemented in our experiments is tunable via a 5th gate. By measuring the tunneling resistance across the junction RT we examine the equilibration of the edge states in a variety of νL/νR scenarios and under different barrier heights. Edge states from both sides are fully mixed in the case of a low barrier. As the barrier height increases, we observe plateaus in RT that correspond to sequential complete backscattering of edge states. Gate-controlled manipulation of edge states offers a new angle to the exploration of quantum Hall magnetism and fractional quantum Hall effect in bilayer graphene.

  3. Bias induced up to 100% spin-injection and detection polarizations in ferromagnet/bilayer-hBN/graphene/hBN heterostructures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gurram, Mallikarjuna; Omar, Siddharta; van Wees, Bart

    2017-01-01

    We study spin transport in a fully hBN encapsulated monolayer-graphene van der Waals heterostructure at room temperature. A top-layer of bilayer-hBN is used as a tunnel barrier for spin-injection and detection in graphene with ferromagnetic cobalt electrodes. We report surprisingly large and

  4. Quasi-free-standing bilayer graphene nanoribbons probed by electronic transport

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miccoli, Ilio; Aprojanz, Johannes; Baringhaus, Jens; Lichtenstein, Timo; Galves, Lauren A.; Lopes, Joao Marcelo J.; Tegenkamp, Christoph

    2017-01-01

    Direct growth of graphene nanostructures by using concepts of self-assembly and intercalation without further lithography and transfer processes is beneficial for their integration into device applications. In this letter, we report on bilayer graphene nanoribbons, typically 100 nm in width, grown along step edges of SiC(0001) substrates. The ribbons are electrically decoupled from the substrate by an oxygen treatment. By means of a 4-tip STM system, the microscopic structure and transport properties were comprehensively studied. The ribbons reveal a robust hole concentration of around 1 × 1013 cm-2 and mobilities up to 700 cm2/Vs at room temperature. The comparably high mobilities are a consequence of interlayer hopping of the charge carriers. The transport is not limited by the step roughness; thus, this scalable process can be easily extended to arbitrarily shaped structures.

  5. Phonon stiffen and soften at zigzag- and armchair-dominated edges of exfoliated bilayer graphene ribbon presented by Raman spectra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Minggang; Zhou, Xiaohua; Xin, Duqiang; Xu, Qiang

    2018-01-01

    The Raman spectra at the edge of the exfoliated bilayer graphene ribbon (GR) were investigated in detail. Results show that both G and 2D phonons stiffen (wave number increases) at zigzag-dominated edge, while they soften at armchair-dominated edge compared with those at the middle position in the GR. Furthermore, the full widths at half maximum intensity of both G and 2D Raman peaks narrow at the zigzag-dominated edge, while they broaden at the armchair-dominated edge. The stiffness and softness are attributed to the C-C bonds at the edge. For zigzag-dominated edge, the stiffness may originate in the increase of the force constant induced by the shrinking of C-C bond. For armchair-dominated edge, the softness may be due to the decrease of the force constant induced by the unsaturated hanging bonds at edge, which is different from Kohn anomaly and charge doping. The analysis is in agreement well with others calculation results about C-C bonds and the edge energy. These results may be useful to understand physical properties at the bilayer graphene edge and for applications in the device by taking advantage of the edge states in bilayer graphene.

  6. Visualization of arrangements of carbon atoms in graphene layers by Raman mapping and atomic-resolution TEM

    KAUST Repository

    Cong, Chunxiao

    2013-02-01

    In-plane and out-of-plane arrangements of carbon atoms in graphene layers play critical roles in the fundamental physics and practical applications of these novel two-dimensional materials. Here, we report initial results on the edge/crystal orientations and stacking orders of bi-and tri-layer graphene (BLG and TLG) from Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments performed on the same sample. We introduce a new method of transferring graphene flakes onto a normal TEM grid. Using this novel method, we probed the BLG and TLG flakes that had been previously investigated by Raman scattering with high-resolution (atomic) TEM.

  7. Direct measurement of discrete valley and orbital quantum numbers in bilayer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, B M; Li, J I A; Zibrov, A A; Wang, L; Taniguchi, T; Watanabe, K; Hone, J; Dean, C R; Zaletel, M; Ashoori, R C; Young, A F

    2017-10-16

    The high magnetic field electronic structure of bilayer graphene is enhanced by the spin, valley isospin, and an accidental orbital degeneracy, leading to a complex phase diagram of broken symmetry states. Here, we present a technique for measuring the layer-resolved charge density, from which we directly determine the valley and orbital polarization within the zero energy Landau level. Layer polarization evolves in discrete steps across 32 electric field-tuned phase transitions between states of different valley, spin, and orbital order, including previously unobserved orbitally polarized states stabilized by skew interlayer hopping. We fit our data to a model that captures both single-particle and interaction-induced anisotropies, providing a complete picture of this correlated electron system. The resulting roadmap to symmetry breaking paves the way for deterministic engineering of fractional quantum Hall states, while our layer-resolved technique is readily extendable to other two-dimensional materials where layer polarization maps to the valley or spin quantum numbers.The phase diagram of bilayer graphene at high magnetic fields has been an outstanding question, with orders possibly between multiple internal quantum degrees of freedom. Here, Hunt et al. report the measurement of the valley and orbital order, allowing them to directly reconstruct the phase diagram.

  8. Bilayer graphene lattice-layer entanglement in the presence of non-Markovian phase noise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bittencourt, Victor A. S. V.; Blasone, Massimo; Bernardini, Alex E.

    2018-03-01

    The evolution of single particle excitations of bilayer graphene under effects of non-Markovian noise is described with focus on the decoherence process of lattice-layer (LL) maximally entangled states. Once the noiseless dynamics of an arbitrary initial state is identified by the correspondence between the tight-binding Hamiltonian for the AB-stacked bilayer graphene and the Dirac equation—which includes pseudovectorlike and tensorlike field interactions—the noisy environment is described as random fluctuations on bias voltage and mass terms. The inclusion of noisy dynamics reproduces the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes: A non-Markovian noise model with a well-defined Markovian limit. Considering that an initial amount of entanglement shall be dissipated by the noise, two profiles of dissipation are identified. On one hand, for eigenstates of the noiseless Hamiltonian, deaths and revivals of entanglement are identified along the oscillation pattern for long interaction periods. On the other hand, for departing LL Werner and Cat states, the entanglement is suppressed although, for both cases, some identified memory effects compete with the pure noise-induced decoherence in order to preserve the the overall profile of a given initial state.

  9. Coherent nonlinear electromagnetic response in twisted bilayer and ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    done theoretically and experimentally on multilayer graphene (MLG) as well, which is ... (a) Honeycomb lattice structure of BLG containing four atoms per unit cell: ..... This is especially important in doped systems where a finite den- ..... [9] A Luican, G Li, A Reina, J Kong, R Nair, K S Novoselov, A K Geim and E Andrei, Phys.

  10. Unraveling the interlayer-related phonon self-energy renormalization in bilayer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Araujo, Paulo T; Mafra, Daniela L; Sato, Kentaro; Saito, Riichiro; Kong, Jing; Dresselhaus, Mildred S

    2012-01-01

    In this letter, we present a step towards understanding the bilayer graphene (2LG) interlayer (IL)-related phonon combination modes and overtones as well as their phonon self-energy renormalizations by using both gate-modulated and laser-energy dependent inelastic scattering spectroscopy. We show that although the IL interactions are weak, their respective phonon renormalization response is significant. Particularly special, the IL interactions are mediated by Van der Waals forces and are fundamental for understanding low-energy phenomena such as transport and infrared optics. Our approach opens up a new route to understanding fundamental properties of IL interactions which can be extended to any graphene-like material, such as MoS₂, WSe₂, oxides and hydroxides. Furthermore, we report a previously elusive crossing between IL-related phonon combination modes in 2LG, which might have important technological applications.

  11. The role of roughness-induced damping in the oscillatory motion of bilayer graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ye, Zhijiang; Martini, Ashlie; Otero-de-la-Roza, Alberto; Johnson, Erin R

    2014-01-01

    A multi-scale theoretical model is presented that is the first to offer quantitative agreement with experimental measurements of self-retraction and oscillation of bilayer graphene. The model integrates density-functional theory calculations of the energetics driving flake retraction and molecular-dynamics simulations capturing the dynamic response of laterally-offset rough surfaces. We demonstrate that nanoscale roughness explains self-retraction motion and propose a recipe for tuning that motion by controlling friction. (paper)

  12. Rapid Identification of Stacking Orientation in Isotopically Labeled Chemical-Vapor Grown Bilayer Graphene by Raman Spectroscopy

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Fang, W.; Hsu, A. L.; Caudillo, R.; Song, Y.; Birdwell, A. G.; Zakar, E.; Kalbáč, Martin; Dubey, M.; Palacios, T.; Dresselhaus, M. S.; Araujo, P. T.; Kong, J.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 13, č. 4 (2013), s. 1541-1548 ISSN 1530-6984 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP208/12/1062; GA MŠk LH13022 Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : AB-stacked bilayer graphene * carbon isotope * fluorination Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 12.940, year: 2013

  13. Atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) grown bi-layer graphene transistor characteristics at high temperature

    KAUST Repository

    Qaisi, Ramy M.; Smith, Casey; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

    2014-01-01

    We report the characteristics of atmospheric chemical vapor deposition grown bilayer graphene transistors fabricated on ultra-scaled (10 nm) high-κ dielectric aluminum oxide (Al2O3) at elevated temperatures. We observed that the drive current increased by >400% as temperature increased from room temperature to 250 °C. Low gate leakage was maintained for prolonged exposure at 100 °C but increased significantly at temperatures >200 °C. These results provide important insights for considering chemical vapor deposition graphene on aluminum oxide for high temperature applications where low power and high frequency operation are required. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  14. Atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) grown bi-layer graphene transistor characteristics at high temperature

    KAUST Repository

    Qaisi, Ramy M.

    2014-05-15

    We report the characteristics of atmospheric chemical vapor deposition grown bilayer graphene transistors fabricated on ultra-scaled (10 nm) high-κ dielectric aluminum oxide (Al2O3) at elevated temperatures. We observed that the drive current increased by >400% as temperature increased from room temperature to 250 °C. Low gate leakage was maintained for prolonged exposure at 100 °C but increased significantly at temperatures >200 °C. These results provide important insights for considering chemical vapor deposition graphene on aluminum oxide for high temperature applications where low power and high frequency operation are required. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  15. Fine tuning of optical transition energy of twisted bilayer graphene via interlayer distance modulation

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    del Corro, Elena; Peňa-Álvarez, Miriam; Sato, K.; Morales-García, A.; Bouša, Milan; Mračko, Michal; Kolman, Radek; Pacáková, Barbara; Kavan, Ladislav; Kalbáč, Martin; Frank, Otakar

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 95, č. 8 (2017), č. článku 085138. ISSN 2469-9950 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA14-15357S; GA MŠk LL1301; GA ČR GA16-03823S Institutional support: RVO:61388955 ; RVO:61388998 ; RVO:68378271 Keywords : twisted bilayer graphene * tuning * silicon Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism OBOR OECD: Condensed matter physics (including formerly solid state physics, supercond.) Impact factor: 3.836, year: 2016

  16. Generation of valley-polarized electron beam in bilayer graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Changsoo

    2015-01-01

    We propose a method to produce valley-polarized electron beams using a bilayer graphene npn junction. By analyzing the transmission properties of electrons through the junction with zigzag interface in the presence of trigonal warping, we observe that there exist a range of incident energies and barrier heights in which transmitted electrons are well polarized and collimated. From this observation and by performing numerical simulations, it is demonstrated that valley-dependent electronic currents with nearly perfect polarization can be generated. We also show that the peak-to-peak separation angle between the polarized currents is tunable either by incident energy or by barrier height each of which is controlled by using top and back gate voltages. The results can be used for constructing an electron beam splitter to produce valley-polarized currents

  17. Generation of valley-polarized electron beam in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Changsoo

    2015-12-01

    We propose a method to produce valley-polarized electron beams using a bilayer graphene npn junction. By analyzing the transmission properties of electrons through the junction with zigzag interface in the presence of trigonal warping, we observe that there exist a range of incident energies and barrier heights in which transmitted electrons are well polarized and collimated. From this observation and by performing numerical simulations, it is demonstrated that valley-dependent electronic currents with nearly perfect polarization can be generated. We also show that the peak-to-peak separation angle between the polarized currents is tunable either by incident energy or by barrier height each of which is controlled by using top and back gate voltages. The results can be used for constructing an electron beam splitter to produce valley-polarized currents.

  18. Topological approach to quantum Hall effects and its important applications: higher Landau levels, graphene and its bilayer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacak, Janusz; Łydżba, Patrycja; Jacak, Lucjan

    2017-05-01

    In this paper the topological approach to quantum Hall effects is carefully described. Commensurability conditions together with proposed generators of a system braid group are employed to establish the fractional quantum Hall effect hierarchies of conventional semiconductors, monolayer and bilayer graphene structures. Obtained filling factors are compared with experimental data and a very good agreement is achieved. Preliminary constructions of ground-state wave functions in the lowest Landau level are put forward. Furthermore, this work explains why pyramids of fillings from higher bands are not counterparts of the well-known composite-fermion hierarchy - it provides with the cause for an intriguing robustness of ν = 7/3 , 8/3 and 5/2 states (also in graphene). The argumentation why paired states can be developed in two-subband systems (wide quantum wells) only when the Fermi energy lies in the first Landau level is specified. Finally, the paper also clarifies how an additional surface in bilayer systems contributes to an observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect near half-filling, ν = 1/2 .

  19. Graphene Oxide Monolayer as a Compatibilizer at the Polymer-Polymer Interface for Stabilizing Polymer Bilayer Films against Dewetting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Tae-Ho; Kim, Hyeri; Choi, Ki-In; Yoo, Jeseung; Seo, Young-Soo; Lee, Jeong-Soo; Koo, Jaseung

    2016-12-06

    We investigate the effect of adding graphene oxide (GO) sheets at the polymer-polymer interface on the dewetting dynamics and compatibility of immiscible polymer bilayer films. GO monolayers are deposited at the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-polystyrene (PS) interface by the Langmuir-Schaefer technique. GO monolayers are found to significantly inhibit the dewetting behavior of both PMMA films (on PS substrates) and PS films (on PMMA substrates). This can be interpreted in terms of an interfacial interaction between the GO sheets and these polymers, which is evidenced by the reduced contact angle of the dewet droplets. The favorable interaction of GO with both PS and PMMA facilitates compatibilization of the immiscible polymer bilayer films, thereby stabilizing their bilayer films against dewetting. This compatibilization effect is verified by neutron reflectivity measurements, which reveal that the addition of GO monolayers broadens the interface between PS and the deuterated PMMA films by 2.2 times over that of the bilayer in the absence of GO.

  20. Influence of carrier density on the electronic cooling channels of bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Limmer, T.; Houtepen, A. J.; Niggebaum, A.; Tautz, R.; Da Como, E.

    2011-09-01

    We study the electronic cooling dynamics in a single flake of bilayer graphene by femtosecond transient absorption probing the photon-energy range 0.25-1.3 eV. From the transients, we extract the carrier cooling curves for different initial temperatures and densities of the photoexcited electrons and holes. Two regimes of carrier cooling, dominated by optical and acoustic phonons emission, are clearly identified. For increasing carrier density, the crossover between the two regimes occurs at larger carrier temperatures, since cooling via optical phonons experiences a bottleneck. Acoustic phonons, which are less sensitive to saturation, show an increasing contribution at high density.

  1. The possibility of superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manaf, Muhamad Nasruddin; Santoso, Iman; Hermanto, Arief

    2015-01-01

    We discuss the possibility of superconductivity in Twisted Bilayer Graphene (TBG). In this study we use TBG model with commensurate rotation θ=1.16° in which the van-Hove singularities (VHS) arise at 6 meV from the Fermi level. We use BCS standard formula that include Density of States (DOS) to calculate the critical temperature (T C ). Based on our calculation we predict that superconductivity will not arise in Pristine TBG because pairing potential has infinity value. In this situation, Dirac Fermions do not interact with each other since they do not form the bound states. Superconductvity may arise when the Fermi level is shifted towards the VHS. Based on this calculation, we predict that T C has value between 0.04 K and 0.12 K. The low value of T C is due to highly energetic of in plane phonon vibration which reduce the effective electron-phonon coupling. We conclude that doped TBG is candidate for Dirac Fermion superconductor

  2. Valley-filtered edge states and quantum valley Hall effect in gated bilayer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xu-Long; Xu, Lei; Zhang, Jun

    2017-05-10

    Electron edge states in gated bilayer graphene in the quantum valley Hall (QVH) effect regime can carry both charge and valley currents. We show that an interlayer potential splits the zero-energy level and opens a bulk gap, yielding counter-propagating edge modes with different valleys. A rich variety of valley current states can be obtained by tuning the applied boundary potential and lead to the QVH effect, as well as to the unbalanced QVH effect. A method to individually manipulate the edge states by the boundary potentials is proposed.

  3. Raman Spectroscopy and in Situ Raman Spectroelectrochemistry of Bilayer 12C/13C Graphene

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalbáč, Martin; Farhat, H.; Kong, J.; Janda, Pavel; Kavan, Ladislav; Dresselhaus, M. S.

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 11, č. 5 (2011), s. 1957-1963 ISSN 1530-6984 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA400400911; GA AV ČR IAA400400804; GA AV ČR KAN200100801; GA MŠk ME09060; GA MŠk LC510; GA ČR GC203/07/J067; GA ČR GAP204/10/1677 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40400503 Keywords : graphene * bilayer * Raman Spectroscopy Subject RIV: CG - Electrochemistry Impact factor: 13.198, year: 2011

  4. Threshold voltage roll-off modelling of bilayer graphene field-effect transistors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saeidmanesh, M; Ismail, Razali; Khaledian, M; Karimi, H; Akbari, E

    2013-01-01

    An analytical model is presented for threshold voltage roll-off of double gate bilayer graphene field-effect transistors. To this end, threshold voltage models of short- and long-channel states have been developed. In the short-channel case, front and back gate potential distributions have been modelled and used. In addition, the tunnelling probability is modelled and its effect is taken into consideration in the potential distribution model. To evaluate the accuracy of the potential model, FlexPDE software is employed with proper boundary conditions and a good agreement is observed. Using the proposed models, the effect of several structural parameters on the threshold voltage and its roll-off are studied at room temperature. (paper)

  5. Bi-layer graphene structure with non-equivalent planes: Magnetic properties study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mhirech, A.; Aouini, S.; Alaoui-Ismaili, A.; Bahmad, L.

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we study the magnetic properties of a ferromagnetic bi-layer graphene structure with non-equivalent planes. The geometry of the studied system is formed by two layers (A) and (B) consisting of the spins σ = 1 / 2 and S = 1 . For this purpose, the influence of the coupling exchange interactions, the external magnetic and the crystal fields are investigated and presented as well as the ground state phase diagrams. The Monte Carlo simulations have been used to examine the behavior of the partial and the total magnetizations as a function of the system parameters. These effects on the compensation and critical temperatures behavior are also presented in different phase diagrams, for the studied system.

  6. Chirality-Assisted Electronic Cloaking of Confined States in Bilayer Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Nan; Rudner, Mark; Levitov, Leonid

    2011-10-01

    We show that the strong coupling of pseudospin orientation and charge carrier motion in bilayer graphene has a drastic effect on transport properties of ballistic p-n-p junctions. Electronic states with zero momentum parallel to the barrier are confined under it for one pseudospin orientation, whereas states with the opposite pseudospin tunnel through the junction totally uninfluenced by the presence of confined states. We demonstrate that the junction acts as a cloak for confined states, making them nearly invisible to electrons in the outer regions over a range of incidence angles. This behavior is manifested in the two-terminal conductance as transmission resonances with non-Lorentzian, singular peak shapes. The response of these phenomena to a weak magnetic field or electric-field-induced interlayer gap can serve as an experimental fingerprint of electronic cloaking.

  7. Electron-hole collision limited transport in charge-neutral bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nam, Youngwoo; Ki, Dong-Keun; Soler-Delgado, David; Morpurgo, Alberto F.

    2017-12-01

    Ballistic transport occurs whenever electrons propagate without collisions deflecting their trajectory. It is normally observed in conductors with a negligible concentration of impurities, at low temperature, to avoid electron-phonon scattering. Here, we use suspended bilayer graphene devices to reveal a new regime, in which ballistic transport is not limited by scattering with phonons or impurities, but by electron-hole collisions. The phenomenon manifests itself in a negative four-terminal resistance that becomes visible when the density of holes (electrons) is suppressed by gate-shifting the Fermi level in the conduction (valence) band, above the thermal energy. For smaller densities, transport is diffusive, and the measured conductivity is reproduced quantitatively, with no fitting parameters, by including electron-hole scattering as the only process causing velocity relaxation. Experiments on a trilayer device show that the phenomenon is robust and that transport at charge neutrality is governed by the same physics. Our results provide a textbook illustration of a transport regime that had not been observed previously and clarify the nature of conduction through charge-neutral graphene under conditions in which carrier density inhomogeneity is immaterial. They also demonstrate that transport can be limited by a fully electronic mechanism, originating from the same microscopic processes that govern the physics of Dirac-like plasmas.

  8. The possibility of superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Manaf, Muhamad Nasruddin, E-mail: muhamad.nasruddin.manaf@mail.ugm.ac.id; Santoso, Iman, E-mail: iman.santoso@ugm.ac.id; Hermanto, Arief [Jurusan Fisika, Fakultas Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Bulaksumur 55281, Yogyakarta (Indonesia); Yayasan Hikmah Teknosains, Jl. Kaliurang Km 5,3 Gg. Pamungkas No. 16 A, Yogyakarta (Indonesia)

    2015-09-30

    We discuss the possibility of superconductivity in Twisted Bilayer Graphene (TBG). In this study we use TBG model with commensurate rotation θ=1.16° in which the van-Hove singularities (VHS) arise at 6 meV from the Fermi level. We use BCS standard formula that include Density of States (DOS) to calculate the critical temperature (T{sub C}). Based on our calculation we predict that superconductivity will not arise in Pristine TBG because pairing potential has infinity value. In this situation, Dirac Fermions do not interact with each other since they do not form the bound states. Superconductvity may arise when the Fermi level is shifted towards the VHS. Based on this calculation, we predict that T{sub C} has value between 0.04 K and 0.12 K. The low value of T{sub C} is due to highly energetic of in plane phonon vibration which reduce the effective electron-phonon coupling. We conclude that doped TBG is candidate for Dirac Fermion superconductor.

  9. Double trigonal warping and the anomalous quantum Hall step in bilayer graphene with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Bo; Ma Zhongshui; Zhang, C

    2012-01-01

    We demonstrate that the trigonal warping observed in bilayer graphene is doubled in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit (RSO) coupling, i.e. the Dirac points along the three-fold symmetry axis are doubled. There are now seven Dirac points. Furthermore, the RSO interaction breaks the electron-hole symmetry of the magnetic band structure. The most intriguing feature is that the step of the quantum Hall plateau at zero energy is four times that at finite energy. The number of Dirac points and the zero energy Hall step are only determined by the existence of RSO coupling, but are independent of the strength of the coupling. The robustness of these phenomena suggests equivalence between the RSO coupling and the topological effect in bilayer coupling.

  10. Charge carrier density in Li-intercalated graphene

    KAUST Repository

    Kaloni, Thaneshwor P.; Cheng, Yingchun; Kahaly, M. Upadhyay; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2012-01-01

    The electronic structures of bulk C 6Li, Li-intercalated free-standing bilayer graphene, and Li-intercalated bilayer and trilayer graphene on SiC(0 0 0 1) are studied using density functional theory. Our estimate of Young's modulus suggests that Li

  11. ZnO Nanoparticles/Reduced Graphene Oxide Bilayer Thin Films for Improved NH3-Sensing Performances at Room Temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tai, Huiling; Yuan, Zhen; Zheng, Weijian; Ye, Zongbiao; Liu, Chunhua; Du, Xiaosong

    2016-03-01

    ZnO nanoparticles and graphene oxide (GO) thin film were deposited on gold interdigital electrodes (IDEs) in sequence via simple spraying process, which was further restored to ZnO/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) bilayer thin film by the thermal reduction treatment and employed for ammonia (NH3) detection at room temperature. rGO was identified by UV-vis absorption spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS) analyses, and the adhesion between ZnO nanoparticles and rGO nanosheets might also be formed. The NH3-sensing performances of pure rGO film and ZnO/rGO bilayer films with different sprayed GO amounts were compared. The results showed that ZnO/rGO film sensors exhibited enhanced response properties, and the optimal GO amount of 1.5 ml was achieved. Furthermore, the optimal ZnO/rGO film sensor showed an excellent reversibility and fast response/recovery rate within the detection range of 10-50 ppm. Meanwhile, the sensor also displayed good repeatability and selectivity to NH3. However, the interference of water molecules on the prepared sensor is non-ignorable; some techniques should be researched to eliminate the effect of moisture in the further work. The remarkably enhanced NH3-sensing characteristics were speculated to be attributed to both the supporting role of ZnO nanoparticles film and accumulation heterojunction at the interface between ZnO and rGO. Thus, the proposed ZnO/rGO bilayer thin film sensor might give a promise for high-performance NH3-sensing applications.

  12. Interlayer shear of nanomaterials: Graphene-graphene, boron nitride-boron nitride and graphene-boron nitride

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yinfeng Li; Weiwei Zhang; Bill Guo; Dibakar Datta

    2017-01-01

    In this paper,the interlayer sliding between graphene and boron nitride (h-BN) is studied by molecular dynamics simulations.The interlayer shear force between h-BN/h-BN is found to be six times higher than that of graphene/graphene,while the interlayer shear between graphene/h-BN is approximate to that of graphene/graphene.The graphene/h-BN heterostructure shows several anomalous interlayer shear characteristics compared to its bilayer counterparts.For graphene/graphene and h-BN/h-BN,interlayer shears only exit along the sliding direction while interlayer shear for graphene/h-BN is observed along both the translocation and perpendicular directions.Our results provide significant insight into the interlayer shear characteristics of 2D nanomaterials.

  13. Coherent nonlinear electromagnetic response in twisted bilayer and ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The phenomenon of Rabi oscillations far from resonance is described in bilayer and few-layer graphene. These oscillations in the population and polarization at the Dirac point in -layer graphene are seen in the nth harmonic termin the external driving frequency. The underlying reason behind these oscillations is ...

  14. Monte Carlo study of internal energy and specific heat of a nano-graphene bilayer in a longitudinal magnetic field

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Luo, Xiao-hong; Wang, Wei, E-mail: ww9803@126.com; Chen, Dong-dong; Xu, Si-yuan

    2016-06-15

    The thermodynamic properties of a nano-graphene bilayer, consisting of the upper layer A of spin-3/2 with antiferromagnetic intralayer exchange coupling and the bottom layer B of spin-5/2 with ferromagnetic intralayer exchange coupling, have been studied by the use of Monte Carlo simulation. We find a number of characteristic phenomena. The effects of the exchange coupling, the single-ion anisotropy and the longitudinal magnetic field on the internal energy, the specific heat and the blocking temperature of the mixed-spin bilayer system have been investigated in detail. The internal energy and the specific heat profiles are clarified. In particular, we have found that the specific heat curve may show two peaks phenomenon for appropriate values of the system parameters.

  15. Charge carrier density in Li-intercalated graphene

    KAUST Repository

    Kaloni, Thaneshwor P.

    2012-05-01

    The electronic structures of bulk C 6Li, Li-intercalated free-standing bilayer graphene, and Li-intercalated bilayer and trilayer graphene on SiC(0 0 0 1) are studied using density functional theory. Our estimate of Young\\'s modulus suggests that Li-intercalation increases the intrinsic stiffness. For decreasing Li-C interaction, the Dirac point shifts to the Fermi level and the associated band splitting vanishes. For Li-intercalated bilayer graphene on SiC(0 0 0 1) the splitting at the Dirac point is tiny. It is also very small at the two Dirac points of Li-intercalated trilayer graphene on SiC(0 0 0 1). For all the systems under study, a large enhancement of the charge carrier density is achieved by Li intercalation. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Characterizing edge and stacking structures of exfoliated graphene by photoelectron diffraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsui, Fumihiko; Ishii, Ryo; Matsuda, Hiroyuki; Morita, Makoto; Kitagawa, Satoshi; Koh, Shinji; Daimon, Hiroshi; Matsushita, Tomohiro

    2013-01-01

    The two-dimensional C 1s photoelectron intensity angular distributions (PIADs) and spectra of exfoliated graphene flakes and crystalline graphite were measured using a focused soft X-ray beam. Suitable graphene samples were selected by thickness characterization using Raman spectromicroscopy after transferring mechanically exfoliated graphene flakes onto a 90-nm-thick SiO 2 film. In every PIAD, a Kagomé interference pattern was observed, particularly clearly in the monolayer graphene PIAD. Its origin is the overlap of the diffraction rings formed by an in-plane C-C bond honeycomb lattice. Thus, the crystal orientation of each sample can be determined. In the case of bilayer graphene, PIAD was threefold-symmetric, while those of monolayer graphene and crystalline graphite were sixfold-symmetric. This is due to the stacking structure of bilayer graphene. From comparisons with the multiple scattering PIAD simulation results, the way of layer stacking as well as the termination types in the edge regions of bilayer graphene flakes were determined. Furthermore, two different C 1s core levels corresponding to the top and bottom layers of bilayer graphene were identified. A chemical shift to a higher binding energy by 0.25 eV for the bottom layer was attributed to interfacial interactions. (author)

  17. Determining the Gaussian Modulus and Edge Properties of 2D Materials: From Graphene to Lipid Bilayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zelisko, Matthew; Ahmadpoor, Fatemeh; Gao, Huajian; Sharma, Pradeep

    2017-08-01

    The dominant deformation behavior of two-dimensional materials (bending) is primarily governed by just two parameters: bending rigidity and the Gaussian modulus. These properties also set the energy scale for various important physical and biological processes such as pore formation, cell fission and generally, any event accompanied by a topological change. Unlike the bending rigidity, the Gaussian modulus is, however, notoriously difficult to evaluate via either experiments or atomistic simulations. In this Letter, recognizing that the Gaussian modulus and edge tension play a nontrivial role in the fluctuations of a 2D material edge, we derive closed-form expressions for edge fluctuations. Combined with atomistic simulations, we use the developed approach to extract the Gaussian modulus and edge tension at finite temperatures for both graphene and various types of lipid bilayers. Our results possibly provide the first reliable estimate of this elusive property at finite temperatures and appear to suggest that earlier estimates must be revised. In particular, we show that, if previously estimated properties are employed, the graphene-free edge will exhibit unstable behavior at room temperature. Remarkably, in the case of graphene, we show that the Gaussian modulus and edge tension even change sign at finite temperatures.

  18. Direct transfer of graphene films for polyurethane substrate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vilani, C.; Romani, E.C.; Larrudé, D.G. [Departamento de Física, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, 22451-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Barbosa, Gelza M. [Diretoria de Sistemas de Armas da Marinha, Marinha do Brasil, 20010-00 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Freire, F.L., E-mail: lazaro@vdg.fis.puc-rio.br [Departamento de Física, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, 22451-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2015-11-30

    Highlights: • Graphene was prepared by CVD using copper foils as substrates. • Monolayer, bilayer and multilayer graphene were transferred to PU. • Samples were characterized by Raman and optical spectroscopies. • PU/monolayer graphene has transmittance around 80% in visible range. - Abstract: We have proposed the direct transfer of large-area graphene films grown by chemical vapor deposition to polymeric substrate by evaporating of solvents of polyurethane/tetrahydrofurane solution. The graphene films on polyurethane substrates were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, optical and atomic force microscopies and UV–vis spectroscopy measurements. The Raman spectra revealed that it is possible to transfer in a controlled manner monolayer, bilayer and multilayer graphene films over polyurethane substrate.

  19. Direct transfer of graphene films for polyurethane substrate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vilani, C.; Romani, E.C.; Larrudé, D.G.; Barbosa, Gelza M.; Freire, F.L.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Graphene was prepared by CVD using copper foils as substrates. • Monolayer, bilayer and multilayer graphene were transferred to PU. • Samples were characterized by Raman and optical spectroscopies. • PU/monolayer graphene has transmittance around 80% in visible range. - Abstract: We have proposed the direct transfer of large-area graphene films grown by chemical vapor deposition to polymeric substrate by evaporating of solvents of polyurethane/tetrahydrofurane solution. The graphene films on polyurethane substrates were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, optical and atomic force microscopies and UV–vis spectroscopy measurements. The Raman spectra revealed that it is possible to transfer in a controlled manner monolayer, bilayer and multilayer graphene films over polyurethane substrate.

  20. Coherent Interlayer Tunneling and Negative Differential Resistance with High Current Density in Double Bilayer Graphene-WSe2 Heterostructures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burg, G William; Prasad, Nitin; Fallahazad, Babak; Valsaraj, Amithraj; Kim, Kyounghwan; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; Wang, Qingxiao; Kim, Moon J; Register, Leonard F; Tutuc, Emanuel

    2017-06-14

    We demonstrate gate-tunable resonant tunneling and negative differential resistance between two rotationally aligned bilayer graphene sheets separated by bilayer WSe 2 . We observe large interlayer current densities of 2 and 2.5 μA/μm 2 and peak-to-valley ratios approaching 4 and 6 at room temperature and 1.5 K, respectively, values that are comparable to epitaxially grown resonant tunneling heterostructures. An excellent agreement between theoretical calculations using a Lorentzian spectral function for the two-dimensional (2D) quasiparticle states, and the experimental data indicates that the interlayer current stems primarily from energy and in-plane momentum conserving 2D-2D tunneling, with minimal contributions from inelastic or non-momentum-conserving tunneling. We demonstrate narrow tunneling resonances with intrinsic half-widths of 4 and 6 meV at 1.5 and 300 K, respectively.

  1. Assessment of bilayer silicene to probe as quantum spin and valley Hall effect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rehman, Majeed Ur; Qiao, Zhenhua

    2018-02-01

    Silicene takes precedence over graphene due to its buckling type structure and strong spin orbit coupling. Motivated by these properties, we study the silicene bilayer in the presence of applied perpendicular electric field and intrinsic spin orbit coupling to probe as quantum spin/valley Hall effect. Using analytical approach, we calculate the spin Chern-number of bilayer silicene and then compare it with monolayer silicene. We reveal that bilayer silicene hosts double spin Chern-number as compared to single layer silicene and therefore accordingly has twice as many edge states in contrast to single layer silicene. In addition, we investigate the combined effect of intrinsic spin orbit coupling and the external electric field, we find that bilayer silicene, likewise single layer silicene, goes through a phase transitions from a quantum spin Hall state to a quantum valley Hall state when the strength of the applied electric field exceeds the intrinsic spin orbit coupling strength. We believe that the results and outcomes obtained for bilayer silicene are experimentally more accessible as compared to bilayer graphene, because of strong SO coupling in bilayer silicene.

  2. Single-bilayer graphene oxide sheet tolerance and glutathione redox system significance assessment in faba bean (Vicia faba L.)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anjum, Naser A.; Singh, Neetu; Singh, Manoj K.; Shah, Zahoor A.; Duarte, Armando C.; Pereira, Eduarda; Ahmad, Iqbal

    2013-01-01

    Adsorbents based on single-bilayer graphene oxide sheet (hereafter termed “graphene oxide”) are widely used in contaminated environments cleanup which may easily open the avenues for their entry to different environmental compartments, exposure to organisms and their subsequent transfer to human/animal food chain. Considering a common food crop—faba bean (Vicia faba L.) germinating seedlings as a model plant system, this study assesses the V. faba-tolerance to different concentrations (0, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 mg L −1 ) of graphene oxide (0.5–5 μm) and evaluates glutathione (γ-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine) redox system significance in this context. The results showed significantly increased V. faba sensitivity under three graphene oxide concentrations (in order of impact: 1,600 > 200 > 100 mg graphene oxide L −1 ), which was accompanied by decreased glutathione redox (reduced glutathione-to-oxidized glutathione) ratio, reduced glutathione pool, as well as significant and equally elevated activities of glutathione-regenerating (glutathione reductase) and glutathione-metabolizing (glutathione peroxidase; glutathione sulfo-transferase) enzymes. Contrarily, the two graphene oxide concentrations (in order of impact: 800 > 400 graphene oxide mg L −1 ) yielded promising results; where, significant improvements in V. faba health status (measured as increased graphene oxide tolerance) were clearly perceptible with increased ratio of the reduced glutathione-to-oxidized glutathione, reduced glutathione pool and glutathione reductase activity but decreased activities of glutathione-metabolizing enzymes. It is inferred that V. faba seedlings-sensitivity and/or tolerance to graphene oxide concentrations depends on both the cellular redox state (reduced glutathione-to-oxidized glutathione ratio) and the reduced glutathione pool which in turn are controlled by a finely tuned modulation of the coordination between glutathione-regenerating and glutathione

  3. Single-bilayer graphene oxide sheet tolerance and glutathione redox system significance assessment in faba bean (Vicia faba L.)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anjum, Naser A. [University of Aveiro, Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and Department of Chemistry (Portugal); Singh, Neetu; Singh, Manoj K. [University of Aveiro, Center for Mechanical Technology and Automation (TEMA) and Department of Mechanical Engineering (Portugal); Shah, Zahoor A. [University of Toledo, Department of Medicinal and Biological Chemistry, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (United States); Duarte, Armando C.; Pereira, Eduarda; Ahmad, Iqbal, E-mail: ahmadr@ua.pt [University of Aveiro, Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and Department of Chemistry (Portugal)

    2013-07-15

    Adsorbents based on single-bilayer graphene oxide sheet (hereafter termed 'graphene oxide') are widely used in contaminated environments cleanup which may easily open the avenues for their entry to different environmental compartments, exposure to organisms and their subsequent transfer to human/animal food chain. Considering a common food crop-faba bean (Vicia faba L.) germinating seedlings as a model plant system, this study assesses the V. faba-tolerance to different concentrations (0, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 mg L{sup -1}) of graphene oxide (0.5-5 {mu}m) and evaluates glutathione ({gamma}-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine) redox system significance in this context. The results showed significantly increased V. faba sensitivity under three graphene oxide concentrations (in order of impact: 1,600 > 200 > 100 mg graphene oxide L{sup -1}), which was accompanied by decreased glutathione redox (reduced glutathione-to-oxidized glutathione) ratio, reduced glutathione pool, as well as significant and equally elevated activities of glutathione-regenerating (glutathione reductase) and glutathione-metabolizing (glutathione peroxidase; glutathione sulfo-transferase) enzymes. Contrarily, the two graphene oxide concentrations (in order of impact: 800 > 400 graphene oxide mg L{sup -1}) yielded promising results; where, significant improvements in V. faba health status (measured as increased graphene oxide tolerance) were clearly perceptible with increased ratio of the reduced glutathione-to-oxidized glutathione, reduced glutathione pool and glutathione reductase activity but decreased activities of glutathione-metabolizing enzymes. It is inferred that V. faba seedlings-sensitivity and/or tolerance to graphene oxide concentrations depends on both the cellular redox state (reduced glutathione-to-oxidized glutathione ratio) and the reduced glutathione pool which in turn are controlled by a finely tuned modulation of the coordination between glutathione-regenerating and

  4. Electrochemical behavior of monolayer and bilayer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valota, Anna T; Kinloch, Ian A; Novoselov, Kostya S; Casiraghi, Cinzia; Eckmann, Axel; Hill, Ernie W; Dryfe, Robert A W

    2011-11-22

    Results of a study on the electrochemical properties of exfoliated single and multilayer graphene flakes are presented. Graphene flakes were deposited on silicon/silicon oxide wafers to enable fast and accurate characterization by optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Conductive silver paint and silver wires were used to fabricate contacts; epoxy resin was employed as a masking coating in order to expose a stable, well-defined area of graphene. Both multilayer and monolayer graphene microelectrodes showed quasi-reversible behavior during voltammetric measurements in potassium ferricyanide. However, the standard heterogeneous charge transfer rate constant, k°, was estimated to be higher for monolayer graphene flakes. © 2011 American Chemical Society

  5. Electrochemical behaviour of monolayer and bilayer graphene

    OpenAIRE

    Valota, Anna T.; Kinloch, Ian A.; Novoselov, Kostya S.; Casiraghi, Cinzia; Eckmann, Axel; Hill, Ernie W.; Dryfe, Robert A. W.

    2011-01-01

    Results of a study on the electrochemical properties of exfoliated single and multilayer graphene flakes are presented. Graphene flakes were deposited on silicon/silicon oxide wafers to enable fast and accurate characterization by optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Conductive silver paint and silver wires were used to fabricate contacts; epoxy resin was employed as masking coating in order to expose a stable, well defined area of graphene. Both multilayer and monolayer graphene microe...

  6. Touching points in the energy band structure of bilayer graphene superlattices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pham, C Huy; Nguyen, V Lien

    2014-01-01

    The energy band structure of the bilayer graphene superlattices with zero-averaged periodic δ-function potentials are studied within the four-band continuum model. Using the transfer matrix method, the study is mainly focused on examining the touching points between adjacent minibands. For the zero-energy touching points the dispersion relation derived shows a Dirac-like double-cone shape with the group velocity which is periodic in the potential strength P with the period of π and becomes anisotropic at relatively large P. From the finite-energy touching points we have identified those located at zero wave-number. It was shown that for these finite-energy touching points the dispersion is direction-dependent in the sense that it is linear or parabolic in the direction parallel or perpendicular to the superlattice direction, respectively. We have also calculated the density of states and the conductivity which demonstrates a manifestation of the touching points examined. (paper)

  7. Kohn-Luttinger superconductivity in monolayer and bilayer semimetals with the Dirac spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kagan, M. Yu.; Mitskan, V. A.; Korovushkin, M. M.

    2014-01-01

    The effect of Coulomb interaction in an ensemble of Dirac fermions on the formation of superconducting pairing in monolayer and bilayer doped graphene is studied using the Kohn-Luttinger mechanism disregarding the Van der Waals potential of the substrate and impurities. The electronic structure of graphene is described using the Shubin-Vonsovsky model taking into account the intratomic, interatomic, and interlayer (in the case of bilayer graphene) Coulomb interactions between electrons. The Cooper instability is determined by solving the Bethe-Saltpeter integral equation. The renormalized scattering amplitude is obtained with allowance for the Kohn-Luttinger polarization contributions up to the second order of perturbation theory in the Coulomb interaction. It plays the role of effective interaction in the Bethe-Salpeter integral equation. It is shown that the allowance for the Kohn-Luttinger renormalizations as well as intersite Coulomb interaction noticeably affects the competition between the superconducting phases with the f-wave and d + id-wave symmetries of the order parameter. It is demonstrated that the superconducting transition temperature for an idealized graphene bilayer with significant interlayer Coulomb interaction between electrons is noticeably higher than in the monolayer case

  8. Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of twisted trilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuo, Wei-Jie; Qiao, Jia-Bin; Ma, Dong-Lin; Yin, Long-Jing; Sun, Gan; Zhang, Jun-Yang; Guan, Li-Yang; He, Lin

    2018-01-01

    Twist, as a simple and unique degree of freedom, could lead to enormous novel quantum phenomena in bilayer graphene. A small rotation angle introduces low-energy van Hove singularities (VHSs) approaching the Fermi level, which result in unusual correlated states in the bilayer graphene. It is reasonable to expect that the twist could also affect the electronic properties of few-layer graphene dramatically. However, such an issue has remained experimentally elusive. Here, by using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS), we systematically studied a twisted trilayer graphene (TTG) with two different small twist angles between adjacent layers. Two sets of VHSs, originating from the two twist angles, were observed in the TTG, indicating that the TTG could be simply regarded as a combination of two different twisted bilayers of graphene. By using high-resolution STS, we observed a split of the VHSs and directly imaged the spatial symmetry breaking of electronic states around the VHSs. These results suggest that electron-electron interactions play an important role in affecting the electronic properties of graphene systems with low-energy VHSs.

  9. Size effect on magnetic properties of a nano-graphene bilayer structure: A Monte Carlo study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Masrour, R. [Laboratory of Materials, Process, Environment and Quality, Cady Ayyad University, National School of Applied Sciences, Safi (Morocco); Laboratoire de Magnetisme et Physique des Hautes Energies L.M.P.H.E.URAC 12, Universite Mohammed V-Agdal, Faculte des Sciences, B.P. 1014 Rabat (Morocco); Bahmad, L., E-mail: bahmad@fsr.ac.ma [Laboratoire de Magnetisme et Physique des Hautes Energies L.M.P.H.E.URAC 12, Universite Mohammed V-Agdal, Faculte des Sciences, B.P. 1014 Rabat (Morocco); Benyoussef, A. [Laboratoire de Magnetisme et Physique des Hautes Energies L.M.P.H.E.URAC 12, Universite Mohammed V-Agdal, Faculte des Sciences, B.P. 1014 Rabat (Morocco)

    2012-11-15

    In this paper we use the Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the magnetic properties of an Ising ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic model. The system is based on a nano-graphene structure-like bilayer with two bloc sizes: N=24 and 42 spins. For each size N, the upper layer A is formed with spin -3/2, whereas the lower layer B is composed of spin -5/2. We only consider the first nearest-neighbor interactions between the sites i and j. The magnetic properties are studied, in the absence as well as in the presence of a crystal magnetic field, and an external magnetic field. The increasing temperature and crystal field as well as the inter-layer coupling constant, are also studied for this system sizes N=24 and 42 spins. The zero-field-cooled and the field cooled magnetization behaviors are investigated for different values of external magnetic field and a fixed value of exchange interaction between the two blocs. The magnetizations as well as the magnetic susceptibilities versus the temperature are used in order to obtain blocking temperature. The saturation magnetization and coercive field are also obtained for the two sizes of the studied system. It is found that the blocking temperature decreases on increasing the crystal magnetic field and/or the external magnetic field, for a fixed system size. On the other hand, it is found that the blocking temperature increases on increasing the system size from N=24 to 42 spins, for fixed values of external and the crystal magnetic fields. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Magnetic properties of an Ising ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic bilayer is studied. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Monte Carlo simulations are used. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) magnetization behaviors for nano-graphene are obtained.

  10. Electronic Properties of Graphene-PtSe2 Contacts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sattar, Shahid; Schwingenschlögl, Udo

    2017-05-10

    In this article, we study the electronic properties of graphene in contact with monolayer and bilayer PtSe 2 using first-principles calculations. It turns out that there is no charge transfer between the components because of the weak van der Waals interaction. We calculate the work functions of monolayer and bilayer PtSe 2 and analyze the band bending at the contact with graphene. The formation of an n-type Schottky contact with monolayer PtSe 2 and a p-type Schottky contact with bilayer PtSe 2 is demonstrated. The Schottky barrier height is very low in the bilayer case and can be reduced to zero by 0.8% biaxial tensile strain.

  11. The physics of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kageshima, H; Hibino, H; Tanabe, S

    2012-01-01

    Various physical properties of epitaxial graphene grown on SiC(0001) are studied. First, the electronic transport in epitaxial bilayer graphene on SiC(0001) and quasi-free-standing bilayer graphene on SiC(0001) is investigated. The dependences of the resistance and the polarity of the Hall resistance at zero gate voltage on the top-gate voltage show that the carrier types are electron and hole, respectively. The mobility evaluated at various carrier densities indicates that the quasi-free-standing bilayer graphene shows higher mobility than the epitaxial bilayer graphene when they are compared at the same carrier density. The difference in mobility is thought to come from the domain size of the graphene sheet formed. To clarify a guiding principle for controlling graphene quality, the mechanism of epitaxial graphene growth is also studied theoretically. It is found that a new graphene sheet grows from the interface between the old graphene sheets and the SiC substrate. Further studies on the energetics reveal the importance of the role of the step on the SiC surface. A first-principles calculation unequivocally shows that the C prefers to release from the step edge and to aggregate as graphene nuclei along the step edge rather than be left on the terrace. It is also shown that the edges of the existing graphene more preferentially absorb the isolated C atoms. For some annealing conditions, experiments can also provide graphene islands on SiC(0001) surfaces. The atomic structures are studied theoretically together with their growth mechanism. The proposed embedded island structures actually act as a graphene island electronically, and those with zigzag edges have a magnetoelectric effect. Finally, the thermoelectric properties of graphene are theoretically examined. The results indicate that reducing the carrier scattering suppresses the thermoelectric power and enhances the thermoelectric figure of merit. The fine control of the Fermi energy position is thought to

  12. Large Variations of the Raman Signal in the Spectra of Twisted Bilayer Graphene on a BN Substrate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalbac, Martin; Frank, Otakar; Kong, Jing; Sanchez-Yamagishi, Javier; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Jarillo-Herrero, Pablo; Dresselhaus, Mildred S

    2012-03-15

    We report an unusual enhancement of the Raman signal of the G mode in a twisted graphene bilayer (2-LG) on a hexagonal single-crystalline boron nitride substrate. We used an isotopically engineered 2-LG, where the top layer was composed of (13)C atoms and the bottom layer of (12)C atoms. Consequently, it was possible by Raman spectroscopy to distinguish between the enhancement coming from the top and bottom layers. The enhancement of the G mode was, however, found to be similar for the top and bottom layers, and this enhancement effect was observed only at certain locations on the substrate. The experiment with two different laser excitation energies showed that the location of the enhanced spots is dependent on the laser excitation energy. Therefore our results suggest that the enhancement comes from new states in the electronic structure, which are a consequence of a local specific rotation of the grains in graphene layers.

  13. Tunable zero-line modes via magnetic field in bilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ke; Qiao, Zhenhua

    Zero-line modes appear in bilayer graphene at the internal boundary between two opposite vertical electrostatic confinements. These one-dimensional modes are metallic along the boundary and exhibit quantized conductance in the absence of inter-valley scattering. However, experimental results show that the conductance is around 0.5 e2/h rather than quantized. This observation can be explained from our numerical results, which suggest that the scattering between zero-line mode and bound states and the presence of atomic scale disorders that provide inter-valley scattering can effectively reduce the conductance to about 0.5 e2/h. We further find that out-of-plane magnetic field can strongly suppress these scattering mechanisms and gives rise to nearly quantized conductance. On one hand, the presence of magnetic field makes bound states become Landau levels, which reduces the scattering between zero-line mode and bound states. On the other hand, the wave function distributions of oppositely propagating zero-line modes at different valleys are spatially separated, which can strongly suppress the inter-valley scattering. Specifically speaking, the conductance can be increased to 3.2 e2/h at 8 T even when the atomic Anderson type disorders are considered.

  14. Layer Dependence of Graphene for Oxidation Resistance of Cu Surface

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yu-qing Song; Xiao-ping Wang

    2017-01-01

    We studied the oxidation resistance of graphene-coated Cu surface and its layer dependence by directly growing monolayer graphene with different multilayer structures coexisted,diminishing the influence induced by residue and transfer technology.It is found that the Cu surface coated with the monolayer graphene demonstrate tremendous difference in oxidation pattern and oxidation rate,compared to that coated with the bilayer graphene,which is considered to be originated from the strain-induced linear oxidation channel in monolayer graphene and the intersection of easily-oxidized directions in each layer of bilayer graphene,respectively.We reveal that the defects on the graphene basal plane but not the boundaries are the main oxidation channel for Cu surface under graphene protection.Our finding indicates that compared to putting forth efforts to improve the quality of monolayer graphene by reducing defects,depositing multilayer graphene directly on metal is a simple and effective way to enhance the oxidation resistance of graphene-coated metals.

  15. Conductance growth in metallic bilayer graphene nanoribbons with disorder and contact scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, N; Ding, J W

    2008-01-01

    By using a decomposition elimination method for Green's function matrix, we explore the effects of both disorder and contact scattering on electronic transport in metallic bilayer graphene nanoribbons (BGNRs) and related structures, in the limit of phase-coherent transport. Due to the inter-layer interaction, a conductance gap is observed at Fermi energy in primary metallic zigzag BGNRs. It is found that the fashion of the conductance variations with disorder depends strongly on the type of disorder and contact scattering. In the edge disordered BGNR, the conductance decreases monotonically with the disorder increasing and finally tends to disappear, while a nonmonotonic behavior is obtained in the single-layer disordered BGNR, first decreasing then increasing. In the presence of contact scattering, especially, an abnormal growth of the conductance appears at much lower disorder in both edge and single-layer disordered BGNRs, which may be due to the destruction of coherence by the introduction of disorder.

  16. Water-free transfer method for CVD-grown graphene and its application to flexible air-stable graphene transistors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyun Ho; Chung, Yoonyoung; Lee, Eunho; Lee, Seong Kyu; Cho, Kilwon

    2014-05-28

    Transferring graphene without water enables water-sensitive substrates to be used in graphene electronics. A polymeric bilayer (PMMA/PBU) is coated on graphene as a supporting layer for the water-free transfer process and as an excellent passivation layer that enhances device operation. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  17. Pressure-mediated doping in graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicolle, Jimmy; Machon, Denis; Poncharal, Philippe; Pierre-Louis, Olivier; San-Miguel, Alfonso

    2011-09-14

    Exfoliated graphene and few layer graphene samples supported on SiO(2) have been studied by Raman spectroscopy at high pressure. For samples immersed on a alcohol mixture, an electron transfer of ∂n/∂P ∼ 8 × 10(12) cm(-2) GPa(-1) is observed for monolayer and bilayer graphene, leading to giant doping values of n ∼ 6 × 10(13) cm(-2) at the maximum pressure of 7 GPa. Three independent and consistent proofs of the doping process are obtained from (i) the evolution of the Raman G-band to 2D-band intensity ratio, (ii) the pressure coefficient of the G-band frequency, and (iii) the 2D band components splitting in the case of the bilayer sample. The charge transfer phenomena is absent for trilayer samples and for samples immersed in argon or nitrogen. We also show that a phase transition from a 2D biaxial strain response, resulting from the substrate drag upon volume reduction, to a 3D hydrostatic compression takes place when going from the bilayer to the trilayer sample. By model calculations we relate this transition to the unbinding of the graphene-SiO(2) system when increasing the number of graphene layers and as function of the surface roughness parameters. We propose that the formation of silanol groups on the SiO(2) substrate allows for a capacitance-induced substrate-mediated charge transfer.

  18. Tunneling spectra of graphene on copper unraveled

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Xin; Stradi, Daniele; Liu, Lei

    2016-01-01

    mechanisms, etc. The interpretation of the spectra can be complicated, however. Specifically for graphene grown on copper, there have been conflicting reports of tunneling spectra. A clear understanding of the mechanisms behind the variability is desired. In this work, we have revealed that the root cause...... of the variability in tunneling spectra is the variation in graphene-substrate coupling under various experimental conditions, providing a salutary perspective on the important role of 2D material-substrate interactions. The conclusions are drawn from measured data and theoretical calculations for monolayer, AB......-stacked bilayer, and twisted bilayer graphene coexisting on the same substrates in areas with and without intercalated oxygen, demonstrating a high degree of consistency. The Van Hove singularities of the twisted graphene unambiguously indicate the Dirac energy between them, lending strong evidence to our...

  19. Direct Growth of Graphene on Silicon by Metal-Free Chemical Vapor Deposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tai, Lixuan; Zhu, Daming; Liu, Xing; Yang, Tieying; Wang, Lei; Wang, Rui; Jiang, Sheng; Chen, Zhenhua; Xu, Zhongmin; Li, Xiaolong

    2018-06-01

    The metal-free synthesis of graphene on single-crystal silicon substrates, the most common commercial semiconductor, is of paramount significance for many technological applications. In this work, we report the growth of graphene directly on an upside-down placed, single-crystal silicon substrate using metal-free, ambient-pressure chemical vapor deposition. By controlling the growth temperature, in-plane propagation, edge-propagation, and core-propagation, the process of graphene growth on silicon can be identified. This process produces atomically flat monolayer or bilayer graphene domains, concave bilayer graphene domains, and bulging few-layer graphene domains. This work would be a significant step toward the synthesis of large-area and layer-controlled, high-quality graphene on single-crystal silicon substrates. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

  20. Intra- and inter-layer charge redistribution in biased bilayer graphene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui-Ning Wang

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the spatial redistribution of the electron density in bilayer graphene in the presence of an interlayer bias within density functional theory. It is found that the interlayer charge redistribution is inhomogeneous between the upper and bottom layers and the transferred charge from the upper layer to the bottom layer linearly increases with the external voltage which further makes the gap at K point linearly increase. However, the band gap will saturate to 0.29 eV in the strong-field regime, but it displays a linear field dependence at the weak-field limit. Due to the AB-stacked way, two carbon atoms per unit cell in the same layer are different and there is also a charge transfer between them, making the widths of π valence bands reduced. In the bottom layer, the charge transfers from the direct atoms which directly face another carbon atom to the indirect atoms facing the center of the hexagon on the opposite layer, while the charge transfers from the indirect atoms to the direct atoms in the upper layer. Furthermore, there is a diploe between the upper and bottom layers which results in the reduction of the interlayer hopping interaction.

  1. Hexagonal boron nitride intercalated multi-layer graphene: a possible ultimate solution to ultra-scaled interconnect technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yong-Jun; Sun, Qing-Qing; Chen, Lin; Zhou, Peng; Wang, Peng-Fei; Ding, Shi-Jin; Zhang, David Wei

    2012-03-01

    We proposed intercalation of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) in multilayer graphene to improve its performance in ultra-scaled interconnects for integrated circuit. The effect of intercalated hBN layer in bilayer graphene is investigated using non-equilibrium Green's functions. We find the hBN intercalated bilayer graphene exhibit enhanced transport properties compared with pristine bilayer ones, and the improvement is attributed to suppression of interlayer scattering and good planar bonding condition of inbetween hBN layer. Based on these results, we proposed a via structure that not only benefits from suppressed interlayer scattering between multilayer graphene, but also sustains the unique electrical properties of graphene when many graphene layers are stacking together. The ideal current density across the structure can be as high as 4.6×109 A/cm2 at 1V, which is very promising for the future high-performance interconnect.

  2. Hexagonal boron nitride intercalated multi-layer graphene: a possible ultimate solution to ultra-scaled interconnect technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong-Jun Li

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available We proposed intercalation of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN in multilayer graphene to improve its performance in ultra-scaled interconnects for integrated circuit. The effect of intercalated hBN layer in bilayer graphene is investigated using non-equilibrium Green's functions. We find the hBN intercalated bilayer graphene exhibit enhanced transport properties compared with pristine bilayer ones, and the improvement is attributed to suppression of interlayer scattering and good planar bonding condition of inbetween hBN layer. Based on these results, we proposed a via structure that not only benefits from suppressed interlayer scattering between multilayer graphene, but also sustains the unique electrical properties of graphene when many graphene layers are stacking together. The ideal current density across the structure can be as high as 4.6×109 A/cm2 at 1V, which is very promising for the future high-performance interconnect.

  3. Large-scale fabrication of BN tunnel barriers for graphene spintronics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fu, Wangyang; Makk, Péter; Maurand, Romain; Bräuninger, Matthias; Schönenberger, Christian

    2014-01-01

    We have fabricated graphene spin-valve devices utilizing scalable materials made from chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Both the spin-transporting graphene and the tunnel barrier material are CVD-grown. The tunnel barrier is realized by Hexagonal boron nitride, used either as a monolayer or bilayer and placed over the graphene. Spin transport experiments were performed using ferromagnetic contacts deposited onto the barrier. We find that spin injection is still greatly suppressed in devices with a monolayer tunneling barrier due to resistance mismatch. This is, however, not the case for devices with bilayer barriers. For those devices, a spin relaxation time of ∼260 ps intrinsic to the CVD graphene material is deduced. This time scale is comparable to those reported for exfoliated graphene, suggesting that this CVD approach is promising for spintronic applications which require scalable materials

  4. A small graphene oxide sheet/polyvinylidene fluoride bilayer actuator with large and rapid responses to multiple stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Guochuang; Zhang, Miao; Zhou, Qinqin; Chen, Hongwu; Gao, Tiantian; Li, Chun; Shi, Gaoquan

    2017-11-16

    A high-performance actuator should be able to deliver large-shape deformations, fast actuations and sensitive responses to multiple stimuli. Here, we report such an actuator constructed from one layer of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) with a high coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and another layer of small sheets of graphene oxide (SGO) with a negative CTE. The opposite deformations of both actuation layers make the SGO/PVDF bilayer actuator highly sensitive to the temperature stimulus with a large bending sensitivity of 1.5 cm -1 °C -1 . Upon irradiation with 60 mW cm -2 infrared light, this SGO/PVDF bilayer actuator displayed an extremely rapid tip displacement rate of 140 mm s -1 . Furthermore, this actuator can also sensitively respond to moisture because of its SGO layer, showing a curvature change from -22 to 13 cm -1 upon changing the relative humidity (RH) from 11% to 86%. This actuator can generate a contractile or relaxed stress 18 times that of mammalian skeletal muscle, under light irradiation or moisture with a response time as short as 1 s, being capable of lifting an object with a weight 80 times that of itself. Furthermore, it also showed excellent stability and repeatability.

  5. Stability of zero-mode Landau levels in bilayer graphene against disorder in the presence of the trigonal warping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawarabayashi, Tohru; Hasugai, Yasuhiro; Aoki, Hideo

    2013-01-01

    The stability of the zero-energy Landau levels in bilayer graphene against the chiral symmetric disorder is examined in the presence of the trigonal warping. Based on the tight-binding lattice model with a bond disorder correlated over several lattice constants, it is shown that among the four Landau levels per spin and per valley, two Landau levels exhibit the anomalous sharpness as in the absence of the trigonal warping, while the other two are broadened, yielding split peaks in the density of states. This can be attributed to the fact that the total chirality in each valley is ±2, which is protected topologically even in the presence of an intra-valley scattering due to disorder

  6. BiVO4–graphene catalyst and its high photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fu Yongsheng; Sun Xiaoqiang; Wang Xin

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: ► A facile strategy is designed to deposit leaf-like BiVO 4 lamellas on graphene sheet. ► Graphene oxide is reduced to graphene in the hydrothermal reaction process. ► BiVO 4 –graphene system shows high catalytic effects under visible light irradiation. - Abstract: A BiVO 4 –graphene photocatalyst was prepared by a facile one-step hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The results show that the graphene sheets in this catalyst are exfoliated and decorated by leaf-like BiVO 4 lamellas. In comparison with the pure BiVO 4 catalyst, the BiVO 4 –graphene system reveals much higher photocatalytic activity for degradation of methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB), Rhodamine B (RhB) and active black BL-G in water under visible light irradiation due to the concerted effects of BiVO 4 and graphene sheets or their integrated properties.

  7. Spin transport through electric field modulated graphene periodic ferromagnetic barriers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sattari, F.; Faizabadi, E.

    2014-01-01

    Using the transfer matrix method, the spin transmission coefficient and the spin conductivity are studied theoretically through the monolayer and bilayer graphene periodic ferromagnetic barriers modulated by a homogeneous electric field. The spin conductivity of the systems has an oscillatory behavior with respect to the external electric field which depends on the spin state of electron. In addition, the oscillation amplitude of the spin conductivity and spin polarization increase by increasing the number of barriers, but for a monolayer system with number of barriers greater than thirty, also for a bilayer system with the number of barriers greater than four, the oscillation amplitude does not change significantly. Our probes show that for bilayer system unlike monolayer structure the highest value of spin polarization achieved can be 1 or (−1). So, for designing spintronic devices, bilayer graphene is more efficient

  8. FOCUS ON GRAPHENE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peres, N M R; Ribeiro, Ricardo M

    2009-01-01

    Graphene physics is currently one of the most active research areas in condensed matter physics. Countless theoretical and experimental studies have already been performed, targeting electronic, magnetic, thermal, optical, structural and vibrational properties. Also, studies that modify pristine graphene, aiming at finding new physics and possible new applications, have been considered. These include patterning nanoribbons and quantum dots, exposing graphene's surface to different chemical species, studying multilayer systems, and inducing strain and curvature (modifying in this way graphene's electronic properties). This focus issue includes many of the latest developments on graphene research. Focus on Graphene Contents The effect of sublattice symmetry breaking on the electronic properties of doped graphene A Qaiumzadeh and R Asgari Interfaces within graphene nanoribbons J Wurm, M Wimmer, I Adagideli, K Richter and H U Baranger Weak localization and transport gap in graphene antidot lattices J Eroms and D Weiss Electronic properties of graphene antidot lattices J A Fuerst, J G Pedersen, C Flindt, N A Mortensen, M Brandbyge, T G Pedersen and A-P Jauho Splitting of critical energies in the n=0 Landau level of graphene Ana L C Pereira Double-gated graphene-based devices S Russo, M F Craciun, M Yamamoto, S Tarucha and A F Morpurgo Pinning and switching of magnetic moments in bilayer graphene Eduardo V Castro, M P Lopez-Sancho and M A H Vozmediano Electronic transport properties of graphene nanoribbons Katsunori Wakabayashi, Yositake Takane, Masayuki Yamamoto and Manfred Sigrist Many-body effects on out-of-plane phonons in graphene J Gonzalez and E Perfetto Graphene zigzag ribbons, square lattice models and quantum spin chains Mahdi Zarea and Nancy Sandler On the universal ac optical background in graphene V P Gusynin, S G Sharapov and J P Carbotte Heat conduction in graphene: experimental study and theoretical interpretation S Ghosh, D L Nika, E P Pokatilov and A A

  9. Raman Excitation Profile of the G-band Enhancement in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eliel, G. S. N.; Ribeiro, H. B.; Sato, K.; Saito, R.; Lu, Chun-Chieh; Chiu, Po-Wen; Fantini, C.; Righi, A.; Pimenta, M. A.

    2017-12-01

    A resonant Raman study of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) samples with different twisting angles using many different laser lines in the visible range is presented. The samples were fabricated by CVD technique and transferred to Si/SiO2 substrates. The Raman excitation profiles of the huge enhancement of the G-band intensity for a group of different TBG flakes were obtained experimentally, and the analysis of the profiles using a theoretical expression for the Raman intensities allowed us to obtain the energies of the van Hove singularities generated by the Moiré patterns and the lifetimes of the excited state of the Raman process. Our results exhibit a good agreement between experimental and calculated energies for van Hove singularities and show that the lifetime of photoexcited carrier does not depend significantly on the twisting angle in the range intermediate angles ( 𝜃 between 10∘ and 15∘). We observed that the width of the resonance window (Γ ≈ 250 meV) is much larger than the REP of the Raman modes of carbon nanotubes, which are also enhanced by resonances with van Hove singularities.

  10. Geometric stability, electronic structure, and intercalation mechanism of Co adatom anchors on graphene sheets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang, Yanan; Chen, Weiguang; Li, Chenggang; Dai, Xianqi; Li, Wei

    2015-01-01

    We perform a systematic study of the adsorption of Co adatom on monolayer and bilayer graphene sheets, and the calculated results are compared through the van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF) and the generalized gradient approximation of Perdew, Burke and Ernzernhof (GGA + PBE) methods. For the single Co adatom, its adsorption energy at vacancy site was found to be larger than at the high-symmetry adsorption sites. For the different vdW corrections, the calculated adsorption energies of Co adatom on graphene substrates are slightly changed to some extent, but they do not affect the most preferable adsorption configurations. NEB calculations prove that the Co adatom has smaller energy barrier within pristine bilayer graphene (PBG) than that on the upper layer, indicating the high mobility of Co atom anchors at overlayer and easily aggregates. For the PBG substrate, the Co adatom intercalates into graphene sheets with a large energy barrier (9.29 eV). On the bilayer graphene with a single-vacancy (SV), the Co adatom can easily be trapped at the SV site and intercalates into graphene sheets with a much lower energy barrier (2.88 eV). These results provide valuable information on the intercalation reaction and the formation mechanism of metal impurity in graphene sheets. (paper)

  11. Optical bistability of graphene in the terahertz range

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Peres, N. M. R.; Bludov, Yu V.; Santos, Jaime E.

    2014-01-01

    We use an exact solution of the relaxation-time Boltzmann equation in a uniform ac electric field to describe the nonlinear optical response of graphene in the terahertz (THz) range. The cases of monolayer, bilayer, and ABA-stacked trilayer graphene are considered, and the monolayer species...

  12. Inter-layer and intra-layer heat transfer in bilayer/monolayer graphene van der Waals heterostructure: Is there a Kapitza resistance analogous?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajabpour, Ali; Fan, Zheyong; Vaez Allaei, S. Mehdi

    2018-06-01

    Van der Waals heterostructures have exhibited interesting physical properties. In this paper, heat transfer in hybrid coplanar bilayer/monolayer (BL-ML) graphene, as a model layered van der Waals heterostructure, was studied using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The temperature profile and inter- and intra-layer heat fluxes of the BL-ML graphene indicated that, there is no fully developed thermal equilibrium between layers and the drop in the average temperature profile at the step-like BL-ML interface is not attributable to the effect of Kapitza resistance. By increasing the length of the system up to 1 μm in the studied MD simulations, the thermally non-equilibrium region was reduced to a small area near the step-like interface. All MD results were compared to a continuum model and a good match was observed between the two approaches. Our results provide a useful understanding of heat transfer in nano- and micro-scale layered materials and van der Waals heterostructures.

  13. Properties of the chalcogenide–carbon nano tubes and graphene composite materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, Abhay Kumar; Kim, JunHo; Park, Jong Tae; Sangunni, K.S.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Chalcogenides. • Melt quenched. • Composite materials. • Multi walled carbon nano tubes. • Bilayer graphene. - Abstract: Composite can deliver more than the individual elemental property of the material. Specifically chalcogenide- multi walled carbon nano tubes and chalcogenide- bilayer graphene composite materials could be interesting for the investigation, which have been less covered by the investigators. We describe micro structural properties of Se 55 Te 25 Ge 20, Se 55 Te 25 Ge 20 + 0.025% multi walled carbon nano tubes and Se 55 Te 25 Ge 20 + 0.025% bilayer graphene materials. This gives realization of the alloying constituents inclusion/or diffusion inside the multi walled carbon nano tubes and bilayer graphene under the homogeneous parent alloy configuration. Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV/Visible spectroscopy and Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy have also been carried out under the discussion. A considerable core energy levels peak shifts have been noticed for the composite materials by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The optical energy band gaps are measured to be varied in between 1.2 and 1.3 eV. In comparison to parent (Se 55 Te 25 Ge 20 ) alloy a higher infrared transmission has been observed for the composite materials. Subsequently, variation in physical properties has been explained on the basis of bond formation in solids

  14. Electronic structure and optical properties of twisted bilayer graphene calculated via time evolution of states in real space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, H. Anh; Do, V. Nam

    2018-03-01

    We investigate the electronic and optical properties of twisted bilayer graphene with arbitrary twist angles θ . Our results are based on a method of evolving in time quantum states in lattice space. We propose an efficient scheme of sampling lattice nodes that helps to reduce significantly computational cost, particularly for tiny twist angles. We demonstrate the continuous variation of the density of states and the optical conductivity with respect to the twist angle. It indicates that the commensurability between the two graphene layers does not play an essential role in governing the electronic and optical properties. We point out that, for the twist angles roughly in the range 0 .1∘energy exhibits the typical W shape with a small peak locating at the Fermi energy. This peak is formed as the merging of two van Hove peaks and reflects the appearance of states strongly localized in the AA-like region of moiré zones. When decreasing the twist angle to zero, the W shape is gradually transformed to the U shape, which is seen as the behavior of the density of states in the limit of θ →0∘ .

  15. Tunable band gaps in graphene/GaN van der Waals heterostructures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Le; Kang, Jun; Li, Yan; Li, Jingbo; Yue, Qu

    2014-01-01

    Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures consisting of graphene and other two-dimensional materials provide good opportunities for achieving desired electronic and optoelectronic properties. Here, we focus on vdW heterostructures composed of graphene and gallium nitride (GaN). Using density functional theory, we perform a systematic study on the structural and electronic properties of heterostructures consisting of graphene and GaN. Small band gaps are opened up at or near the Γ point of the Brillouin zone for all of the heterostructures. We also investigate the effect of the stacking sequence and electric fields on their electronic properties. Our results show that the tunability of the band gap is sensitive to the stacking sequence in bilayer-graphene-based heterostructures. In particular, in the case of graphene/graphene/GaN, a band gap of up to 334 meV is obtained under a perpendicular electric field. The band gap of bilayer graphene between GaN sheets (GaN/graphene/graphene/GaN) shows similar tunability, and increases to 217 meV with the perpendicular electric field reaching 0.8 V Å  − 1 . (paper)

  16. Unconventional superconductivity in magic-angle graphene superlattices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Yuan; Fatemi, Valla; Fang, Shiang; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Kaxiras, Efthimios; Jarillo-Herrero, Pablo

    2018-04-01

    The behaviour of strongly correlated materials, and in particular unconventional superconductors, has been studied extensively for decades, but is still not well understood. This lack of theoretical understanding has motivated the development of experimental techniques for studying such behaviour, such as using ultracold atom lattices to simulate quantum materials. Here we report the realization of intrinsic unconventional superconductivity—which cannot be explained by weak electron–phonon interactions—in a two-dimensional superlattice created by stacking two sheets of graphene that are twisted relative to each other by a small angle. For twist angles of about 1.1°—the first ‘magic’ angle—the electronic band structure of this ‘twisted bilayer graphene’ exhibits flat bands near zero Fermi energy, resulting in correlated insulating states at half-filling. Upon electrostatic doping of the material away from these correlated insulating states, we observe tunable zero-resistance states with a critical temperature of up to 1.7 kelvin. The temperature–carrier-density phase diagram of twisted bilayer graphene is similar to that of copper oxides (or cuprates), and includes dome-shaped regions that correspond to superconductivity. Moreover, quantum oscillations in the longitudinal resistance of the material indicate the presence of small Fermi surfaces near the correlated insulating states, in analogy with underdoped cuprates. The relatively high superconducting critical temperature of twisted bilayer graphene, given such a small Fermi surface (which corresponds to a carrier density of about 1011 per square centimetre), puts it among the superconductors with the strongest pairing strength between electrons. Twisted bilayer graphene is a precisely tunable, purely carbon-based, two-dimensional superconductor. It is therefore an ideal material for investigations of strongly correlated phenomena, which could lead to insights into the physics of high

  17. Versatile sputtering technology for Al2O3 gate insulators on graphene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miriam Friedemann, Mirosław Woszczyna, André Müller, Stefan Wundrack, Thorsten Dziomba, Thomas Weimann and Franz J Ahlers

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available We report a novel, sputtering-based fabrication method of Al2O3 gate insulators on graphene. Electrical performance of dual-gated mono- and bilayer exfoliated graphene devices is presented. Sputtered Al2O3 layers possess comparable quality to oxides obtained by atomic layer deposition with respect to a high relative dielectric constant of about 8, as well as low-hysteresis performance and high breakdown voltage. We observe a moderate carrier mobility of about 1000 cm2 V− 1 s−1 in monolayer graphene and 350 cm2 V− 1 s−1 in bilayer graphene, respectively. The mobility decrease can be attributed to the resonant scattering on atomic-scale defects, likely originating from the Al precursor layer evaporated prior to sputtering.

  18. Optical and Electrical Characteristics of Graphene Double Layer Formed by a Double Transfer of Graphene Single Layers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young Jun; Bae, Gi Yoon; Chun, Sungwoo; Park, Wanjun

    2016-03-01

    We demonstrate formation of double layer graphene by means of a double transfer using two single graphene layers grown by a chemical vapor deposition method. It is observed that shiftiness and broadness in the double-resonance of Raman scattering are much weaker than those of bilayer graphene formed naturally. Transport characteristics examined from transmission line measurements and field effect transistors show the similar behavior with those of single layer graphene. It indicates that interlayer separation, in electrical view, is large enough to avoid correlation between layers for the double layer structure. It is also observed from a transistor with the double layer graphene that molecules adsorpted on two inner graphene surfaces in the double layered structure are isolated and conserved from ambient environment.

  19. Reliable Piezoelectricity in Bilayer WSe2 for Piezoelectric Nanogenerators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ju-Hyuck; Park, Jae Young; Cho, Eun Bi; Kim, Tae Yun; Han, Sang A; Kim, Tae-Ho; Liu, Yanan; Kim, Sung Kyun; Roh, Chang Jae; Yoon, Hong-Joon; Ryu, Hanjun; Seung, Wanchul; Lee, Jong Seok; Lee, Jaichan; Kim, Sang-Woo

    2017-08-01

    Recently, piezoelectricity has been observed in 2D atomically thin materials, such as hexagonal-boron nitride, graphene, and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Specifically, exfoliated monolayer MoS 2 exhibits a high piezoelectricity that is comparable to that of traditional piezoelectric materials. However, monolayer TMD materials are not regarded as suitable for actual piezoelectric devices due to their insufficient mechanical durability for sustained operation while Bernal-stacked bilayer TMD materials lose noncentrosymmetry and consequently piezoelectricity. Here, it is shown that WSe 2 bilayers fabricated via turbostratic stacking have reliable piezoelectric properties that cannot be obtained from a mechanically exfoliated WSe 2 bilayer with Bernal stacking. Turbostratic stacking refers to the transfer of each chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown WSe 2 monolayer to allow for an increase in degrees of freedom in the bilayer symmetry, leading to noncentrosymmetry in the bilayers. In contrast, CVD-grown WSe 2 bilayers exhibit very weak piezoelectricity because of the energetics and crystallographic orientation. The flexible piezoelectric WSe 2 bilayers exhibit a prominent mechanical durability of up to 0.95% of strain as well as reliable energy harvesting performance, which is adequate to drive a small liquid crystal display without external energy sources, in contrast to monolayer WSe 2 for which the device performance becomes degraded above a strain of 0.63%. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  20. Utilizing Interlayer Excitons in Bilayer WS2 for Increased Photovoltaic Response in Ultrathin Graphene Vertical Cross-Bar Photodetecting Tunneling Transistors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Yingqiu; Tan, Haijie; Sheng, Yuewen; Fan, Ye; Xu, Wenshuo; Warner, Jamie H

    2018-04-19

    Here we study the layer-dependent photoconductivity in Gr/WS 2 /Gr vertical stacked tunneling (VST) cross-bar devices made using two-dimensional (2D) materials all grown by chemical vapor deposition. The larger number of devices (>100) enables a statistically robust analysis on the comparative differences in the photovoltaic response of monolayer and bilayer WS 2 , which cannot be achieved in small batch devices made using mechanically exfoliated materials. We show a dramatic increase in photovoltaic response for Gr/WS 2 (2L)/Gr compared to monolayers because of the long inter- and intralayer exciton lifetimes and the small exciton binding energy (both interlayer and intralayer excitons) of bilayer WS 2 compared with that of monolayer WS 2 . Different doping levels and dielectric environments of top and bottom graphene electrodes result in a potential difference across a ∼1 nm vertical device, which gives rise to large electric fields perpendicular to the WS 2 layers that cause band structure modification. Our results show how precise control over layer number in all 2D VST devices dictates the photophysics and performance for photosensing applications.

  1. Graphene growth with ‘no’ feedstock

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qing, Fangzhu; Jia, Ruitao; Li, Bao-Wen; Liu, Chunlin; Li, Congzhou; Peng, Bo; Deng, Longjiang; Zhang, Wanli; Li, Yanrong; Ruoff, Rodney S.; Li, Xuesong

    2017-06-01

    Synthesis of graphene by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from hydrocarbons on Cu foil substrates can yield high quality and large area graphene films. In a typical CVD process, a hydrocarbon in the gas phase is introduced for graphene growth and hydrogen is usually required to achieve high quality graphene. We have found that in a low pressure CVD system equipped with an oil mechanical vacuum pump located downstream, graphene can be grown without deliberate introduction of a carbon feedstock but with only trace amounts of C present in the system, the origin of which we attribute to the vapor of the pump oil. This finding may help to rationalize the differences in graphene growth reported by different research groups. It should also help to gain an in-depth understanding of graphene growth mechanisms with the aim to improve the reproducibility and structure control in graphene synthesis, e.g. the formation of large area single crystal graphene and uniform bilayer graphene.

  2. Rational design of a bi-layered reduced graphene oxide film on polystyrene foam for solar-driven interfacial water evaporation

    KAUST Repository

    Shi, Le

    2016-12-20

    Solar-driven water evaporation has been emerging as a highly efficient way for utilizing solar energy for clean water production and wastewater treatment. Here we rationally designed and fabricated a bi-layered photothermal membrane with a porous film of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) on the top and polystyrene (PS) foam at the bottom. The top porous rGO layer acts as a light absorber to harvest and convert light efficiently to thermal energy and the bottom PS layer, which purposefully disintegrates water transport channels, acts as an excellent thermal barrier to minimize heat transfer to the nonevaporative bulk water. The optimized bi-layered membrane was able to produce water evaporation rate as high as 1.31 kg m−2 h−1 with light to evaporation conversion efficiency as high as 83%, which makes it a promising photothermal material in the literature. Furthermore, the experiments and theoretical simulation were both conducted to examine the relationship between the overall energy efficiency and the depth of the photothermal material underwater and the experimental and simulations results coincided with each other. Therefore, this work provides systematic evidence in support of the concept of the interfacial heating and shines important light on practical applications of solar-driven processes for clean water production.

  3. Intrinsic magnetism and spontaneous band gap opening in bilayer silicene and germanene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xinquan; Wu, Zhigang

    2017-01-18

    It has been long sought to create magnetism out of simple non-magnetic materials, such as silicon and germanium. Here we show that intrinsic magnetism exists in bilayer silicene and germanene with no need to cut, etch, or dope. Unlike bilayer graphene, strong covalent interlayer bonding formed in bilayer silicene and germanene breaks the original π-bonding network of each layer, leaving the unbonded electrons unpaired and localized to carry magnetic moments. These magnetic moments then couple ferromagnetically within each layer while antiferromagnetically across two layers, giving rise to an infinite magnetic sheet with structural integrity and magnetic homogeneity. Furthermore, this unique magnetic ordering results in fundamental band gaps of 0.55 eV and 0.32 eV for bilayer silicene and germanene, respectively. The integration of intrinsic magnetism and spontaneous band gap opening makes bilayer silicene and germanene attractive for future nanoelectronics as well as spin-based computation and data storage.

  4. Impurity effects on electrical conductivity of doped bilayer graphene in the presence of a bias voltage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lotfi, E; Rezania, H; Arghavaninia, B; Yarmohammadi, M

    2016-01-01

    We address the electrical conductivity of bilayer graphene as a function of temperature, impurity concentration, and scattering strength in the presence of a finite bias voltage at finite doping, beginning with a description of the tight-binding model using the linear response theory and Green’s function approach. Our results show a linear behavior at high doping for the case of high bias voltage. The effects of electron doping on the electrical conductivity have been studied via changing the electronic chemical potential. We also discuss and analyze how the bias voltage affects the temperature behavior of the electrical conductivity. Finally, we study the behavior of the electrical conductivity as a function of the impurity concentration and scattering strength for different bias voltages and chemical potentials respectively. The electrical conductivity is found to be monotonically decreasing with impurity scattering strength due to the increased scattering among electrons at higher impurity scattering strength. (paper)

  5. EDITORIAL: Special issue on Graphene Special issue on Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morpurgo, Alberto F.; Trauzettel, Björn

    2010-03-01

    Since the revolutionary experimental discovery of graphene in the year 2004, research on this new two-dimensional carbon allotrope has progressed at a spectacular pace. The impact of graphene on different areas of research— including physics, chemistry, and applied sciences— is only now starting to be fully appreciated. There are different factors that make graphene a truly impressive system. Regarding nano-electronics and related fields, for instance, it is the exceptional electronic and mechanical properties that yield very high room-temperature mobility values, due to the particular band structure, the material `cleanliness' (very low-concentration of impurities), as well as its stiffness. Also interesting is the possibility to have a high electrical conductivity and optical transparency, a combination which cannot be easily found in other material systems. For other fields, other properties could be mentioned, many of which are currently being explored. In the first years following this discovery, research on graphene has mainly focused on the fundamental physics aspects, triggered by the fact that electrons in graphene behave as Dirac fermions due to their interaction with the ions of the honeycomb lattice. This direction has led to the discovery of new phenomena such as Klein tunneling in a solid state system and the so-called half-integer quantum Hall effect due to a special type of Berry phase that appears in graphene. It has also led to the appreciation of thicker layers of graphene, which also have outstanding new properties of great interest in their own right (e.g., bilayer graphene, which supports chiral quasiparticles that, contrary to Dirac electrons, are not massless). Now the time is coming to deepen our knowledge and improve our control of the material properties, which is a key aspect to take one step further towards applications. The articles in the Semiconductor Science and Technology Graphene special issue deal with a diversity of topics

  6. Control of the nucleation and quality of graphene grown by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition with acetylene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Meng; Sasaki, Shinichirou; Suzuki, Ken; Miura, Hideo

    2016-01-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • For the first time, we succeeded in the LPCVD growth of monolayer graphene using acetylene as the precursor gas. • The growth rate is very high when acetylene is used as the source gas. Our process has exhibited the potential to shorten the growth time of CVD graphene. • We found that the domain size, defects density, layer number and the sheet resistance of graphene can be changed by changing the acetylene flow rates. • We found that it is also possible to form bilayer graphene using acetylene. However, further study are necessary to reduce the defects density. - Abstract: Although many studies have reported the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of large-area monolayer graphene from methane, synthesis of graphene using acetylene as the source gas has not been fully explored. In this study, the low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) growth of graphene from acetylene was systematically investigated. We succeeded in regulating the domain size, defects density, layer number and the sheet resistance of graphene by changing the acetylene flow rates. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were employed to confirm the layer number, uniformity and quality of the graphene films. It is found that a low flow rate of acetylene (0.28 sccm) is required to form high-quality monolayer graphene in our system. On the other hand, the high acetylene flow rate (7 sccm) will induce the growth of the bilayer graphene domains with high defects density. On the basis of selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern, the as-grown monolayer graphene domains were analyzed to be polycrystal. We also discussed the relation between the sheet resistacne and defects density in graphene. Our results provide great insights into the understanding of the CVD growth of monolayer and bilayer graphene from acetylene.

  7. Control of the nucleation and quality of graphene grown by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition with acetylene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Meng, E-mail: youmou@rift.mech.tohoku.ac.jp [Department of Nanomechanics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579 (Japan); Sasaki, Shinichirou [Department of Nanomechanics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579 (Japan); Suzuki, Ken; Miura, Hideo [Fracture and Reliability Research Institute, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579 (Japan)

    2016-03-15

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • For the first time, we succeeded in the LPCVD growth of monolayer graphene using acetylene as the precursor gas. • The growth rate is very high when acetylene is used as the source gas. Our process has exhibited the potential to shorten the growth time of CVD graphene. • We found that the domain size, defects density, layer number and the sheet resistance of graphene can be changed by changing the acetylene flow rates. • We found that it is also possible to form bilayer graphene using acetylene. However, further study are necessary to reduce the defects density. - Abstract: Although many studies have reported the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of large-area monolayer graphene from methane, synthesis of graphene using acetylene as the source gas has not been fully explored. In this study, the low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) growth of graphene from acetylene was systematically investigated. We succeeded in regulating the domain size, defects density, layer number and the sheet resistance of graphene by changing the acetylene flow rates. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were employed to confirm the layer number, uniformity and quality of the graphene films. It is found that a low flow rate of acetylene (0.28 sccm) is required to form high-quality monolayer graphene in our system. On the other hand, the high acetylene flow rate (7 sccm) will induce the growth of the bilayer graphene domains with high defects density. On the basis of selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern, the as-grown monolayer graphene domains were analyzed to be polycrystal. We also discussed the relation between the sheet resistacne and defects density in graphene. Our results provide great insights into the understanding of the CVD growth of monolayer and bilayer graphene from acetylene.

  8. SeZnSb alloy and its nano tubes, graphene composites properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abhay Kumar Singh

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Composite can alter the individual element physical property, could be useful to define the specific use of the material. Therefore, work demonstrates the synthesis of a new composition Se96-Zn2-Sb2 and its composites with 0.05% multi-walled carbon nano tubes and 0.05% bilayer graphene, in the glassy form. The diffused amorphous structure of the multi walled carbon nano tubes and bilayer gaphene in the Se96-Zn2-Sb2 alloy have been analyzed by using the Raman, X-ray photoluminescence spectroscopy, Furrier transmission infrared spectra, photoluminescence, UV/visible absorption spectroscopic measurements. The diffused prime Raman bands (G and D have been appeared for the multi walled carbon nano tubes and graphene composites, while the X-ray photoluminescence core energy levels peak shifts have been observed for the composite materials. Subsequently the photoluminescence property at room temperature and a drastic enhancement (upto 80% in infrared transmission percentage has been obtained for the bilayer graphene composite, along with optical energy band gaps for these materials have been evaluated 1.37, 1.39 and 1.41 eV.

  9. Determination of a refractive index and an extinction coefficient of standard production of CVD-graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ochoa-Martínez, Efraín; Gabás, Mercedes; Barrutia, Laura; Pesquera, Amaia; Centeno, Alba; Palanco, Santiago; Zurutuza, Amaia; Algora, Carlos

    2015-01-28

    The refractive index and extinction coefficient of chemical vapour deposition grown graphene are determined by ellipsometry analysis. Graphene films were grown on copper substrates and transferred as both monolayers and bilayers onto SiO2/Si substrates by using standard manufacturing procedures. The chemical nature and thickness of residual debris formed after the transfer process were elucidated using photoelectron spectroscopy. The real layered structure so deduced has been used instead of the nominal one as the input in the ellipsometry analysis of monolayer and bilayer graphene, transferred onto both native and thermal silicon oxide. The effect of these contamination layers on the optical properties of the stacked structure is noticeable both in the visible and the ultraviolet spectral regions, thus masking the graphene optical response. Finally, the use of heat treatment under a nitrogen atmosphere of the graphene-based stacked structures, as a method to reduce the water content of the sample, and its effect on the optical response of both graphene and the residual debris layer are presented. The Lorentz-Drude model proposed for the optical response of graphene fits fairly well the experimental ellipsometric data for all the analysed graphene-based stacked structures.

  10. Topological Quantum Phase Transitions in Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Lattice Bilayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhai, Xuechao; Jin, Guojun

    2013-09-01

    Since the successful fabrication of graphene, two-dimensional hexagonal lattice structures have become a research hotspot in condensed matter physics. In this short review, we theoretically focus on discussing the possible realization of a topological insulator (TI) phase in systems of graphene bilayer (GBL) and boron nitride bilayer (BNBL), whose band structures can be experimentally modulated by an interlayer bias voltage. Under the bias, a band gap can be opened in AB-stacked GBL but is still closed in AA-stacked GBL and significantly reduced in AA- or AB-stacked BNBL. In the presence of spin-orbit couplings (SOCs), further demonstrations indicate whether the topological quantum phase transition can be realized strongly depends on the stacking orders and symmetries of structures. It is observed that a bulk band gap can be first closed and then reopened when the Rashba SOC increases for gated AB-stacked GBL or when the intrinsic SOC increases for gated AA-stacked BNBL. This gives a distinct signal for a topological quantum phase transition, which is further characterized by a jump of the ℤ2 topological invariant. At fixed SOCs, the TI phase can be well switched by the interlayer bias and the phase boundaries are precisely determined. For AA-stacked GBL and AB-stacked BNBL, no strong TI phase exists, regardless of the strength of the intrinsic or Rashba SOCs. At last, a brief overview is given on other two-dimensional hexagonal materials including silicene and molybdenum disulfide bilayers.

  11. Hydrogen storage on graphene: First-principle calculations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boukhvalov, D.W.; Katsnelson, M.I.; Lichtenstein, A.I.

    2007-01-01

    Density functional calculations of electronic structure, total energy, structural distortions, and magnetism for hydrogenated single-layer, bilayer, and multi-layer graphene are performed. It is found that hydrogen-induced magnetism can survives only at very low concentrations of hydrogen

  12. Layer-controllable graphene by plasma thinning and post-annealing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lufang; Feng, Shaopeng; Xiao, Shaoqing; Shen, Gang; Zhang, Xiumei; Nan, Haiyan; Gu, Xiaofeng; Ostrikov, Kostya (Ken)

    2018-05-01

    The electronic structure of graphene depends crucially on its layer number and therefore engineering the number of graphene's atomic stacking layers is of great importance for the preparation of graphene-based devices. In this paper, we demonstrated a relatively less invasive, high-throughput and uniform large-area plasma thinning of graphene based on direct bombardment effect of fast-moving ionic hydrogen or argon species. Any desired number of graphene layers including trilayer, bilayer and monolayer can be obtained. Structural changes of graphene layers are studied by optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. Post annealing is adopted to self-heal the lattice defects induced by the ion bombardment effect. This plasma etching technique is efficient and compatible with semiconductor manufacturing processes, and may find important applications for graphene-based device fabrication.

  13. Quantum and classical ripples in graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hašík, Juraj; Tosatti, Erio; MartoÅák, Roman

    2018-04-01

    Thermal ripples of graphene are well understood at room temperature, but their quantum counterparts at low temperatures are in need of a realistic quantitative description. Here we present atomistic path-integral Monte Carlo simulations of freestanding graphene, which show upon cooling a striking classical-quantum evolution of height and angular fluctuations. The crossover takes place at ever-decreasing temperatures for ever-increasing wavelengths so that a completely quantum regime is never attained. Zero-temperature quantum graphene is flatter and smoother than classical graphene at large scales yet rougher at short scales. The angular fluctuation distribution of the normals can be quantitatively described by coexistence of two Gaussians, one classical strongly T -dependent and one quantum about 2° wide, of zero-point character. The quantum evolution of ripple-induced height and angular spread should be observable in electron diffraction in graphene and other two-dimensional materials, such as MoS2, bilayer graphene, boron nitride, etc.

  14. Electronic structure of superlattices of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride

    KAUST Repository

    Kaloni, Thaneshwor P.

    2011-11-14

    We study the electronic structure of superlattices consisting of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride slabs, using ab initio density functional theory. We find that the system favors a short C–B bond length at the interface between the two component materials. A sizeable band gap at the Dirac point is opened for superlattices with single graphene layers but not for superlattices with graphene bilayers. The system is promising for applications in electronic devices such as field effect transistors and metal-oxide semiconductors.

  15. Electronic structure of superlattices of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride

    KAUST Repository

    Kaloni, Thaneshwor P.; Cheng, Yingchun; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2011-01-01

    We study the electronic structure of superlattices consisting of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride slabs, using ab initio density functional theory. We find that the system favors a short C–B bond length at the interface between the two component materials. A sizeable band gap at the Dirac point is opened for superlattices with single graphene layers but not for superlattices with graphene bilayers. The system is promising for applications in electronic devices such as field effect transistors and metal-oxide semiconductors.

  16. Singular Sheet Etching of Graphene with Oxygen Plasma

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Haider Al-Mumen; Fubo Rao; Wen Li; Lixin Dong

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports a simple and controllable post-synthesis method for engineering the number of graphene layers based on oxygen plasma etching. Singular sheet etching(SSE) of graphene was achieved with the optimum process duration of 38 seconds. As a demonstration of this SSE process, monolayer graphene films were produced from bilayer graphenes. Experimental investigations verified that the oxygen plasma etching removes a single layer graphene sheet in an anisotropic fashion rather than anisotropic mode. In addition,etching via the oxygen plasma at the ground electrodes introduced fewer defects to the bottom graphene layer compared with the conventional oxygen reactive ion etching using the powered electrodes. Such defects can further be reduced with an effective annealing treatment in an argon environment at 900-1000?C. These results demonstrate that our developed SSE method has enabled a microelectronics manufacturing compatible way for single sheet precision subtraction of graphene layers and a potential technique for producing large size graphenes with high yield from multilayer graphite materials.

  17. Singular Sheet Etching of Graphene with Oxygen Plasma

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Haider Al-Mumen; Fubo Rao; Wen Li; Lixin Dong

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports a simple and controllable post-synthesis method for engineering the number of graphene layers based on oxygen plasma etching. Singular sheet etching (SSE) of graphene was achieved with the optimum process duration of 38 seconds. As a demonstration of this SSE process, monolayer graphene films were produced from bilayer graphenes. Experimental investigations verified that the oxygen plasma etching removes a single layer graphene sheet in an anisotropic fashion rather than anisotropic mode. In addition, etching via the oxygen plasma at the ground electrodes introduced fewer defects to the bottom graphene layer compared with the conventional oxygen reactive ion etching using the powered electrodes. Such defects can further be reduced with an effective annealing treatment in an argon environment at 900-1000◦C. These results demonstrate that our developed SSE method has enabled a microelectronics manufacturing compatible way for single sheet precision subtraction of graphene layers and a potential technique for producing large size graphenes with high yield from multilayer graphite materials.

  18. Raman enhancement by graphene-Ga2O3 2D bilayer film.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yun; Yu, Qing-Kai; Ding, Gu-Qiao; Xu, Xu-Guang; Wu, Tian-Ru; Gong, Qian; Yuan, Ning-Yi; Ding, Jian-Ning; Wang, Shu-Min; Xie, Xiao-Ming; Jiang, Mian-Heng

    2014-01-28

    2D β-Ga2O3 flakes on a continuous 2D graphene film were prepared by a one-step chemical vapor deposition on liquid gallium surface. The composite was characterized by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The experimental results indicate that Ga2O3 flakes grew on the surface of graphene film during the cooling process. In particular, tenfold enhancement of graphene Raman scattering signal was detected on Ga2O3 flakes, and XPS indicates the C-O bonding between graphene and Ga2O3. The mechanism of Raman enhancement was discussed. The 2D Ga2O3-2D graphene structure may possess potential applications.

  19. Photophysical and photochemical effects in ultrafast laser patterning of CVD graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bobrinetskiy, Ivan; Otero, Nerea; Romero, Pablo M; Emelianov, Aleksei; Komarov, Ivan; Nasibulin, Albert

    2016-01-01

    The micro-scale patterns in graphene on Si/SiO 2 substrate were fabricated using ultrashort 515 nm laser pulses. For both picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses two competitive processes, based on photo-thermal (ablation) and photochemical (oxidation/etching) effects, were observed. The laser-induced etching of graphene starts just below the threshold energy of graphene ablation: 1.7 nJ per 280 fs pulse and 2.7 µ J per 30 ps pulse. Whilst etching is not sensitive to thermal properties of graphene and provides uniform patterns, the ablation, in contrast, is highly affected by defects in the graphene structure like wrinkles and bilayer islands. The mechanisms of ultrafast laser interaction with graphene are discussed. (letter)

  20. OGLE-2005-BLG-071Lb, the Most Massive M-Dwarf Planetary Companion?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dong, S; Gould, A; Udalski, A; Anderson, J; Christie, G W; Gaudi, B S; Jaroszynski, M; Kubiak, M; Szymanski, M K; Pietrzynski, G; Soszynski, I; Szewczyk, O; Ulaczyk, K; Wyrzykowski, L; DePoy, D L; Fox, D B; Gal-Yam, A; Han, C; Lepine, S; McCormick, J; Ofek, E; Park, B; Pogge, R W; Abe, F; Bennett, D P; Bond, I A; Britton, T R; Gilmore, A C; Hearnshaw, J B; Itow, Y; Kamiya, K; Kilmartin, P M; Korpela, A; Masuda, K; Matsubara, Y; Motomura, M; Muraki, Y; Nakamura, S; Ohnishi, K; Okada, C; Rattenbury, N; Saito, T; Sako, T; Sasaki, M; Sullivan, D; Sumi, T; Tristram, P J; Yanagisawa, T; Yock, P M; Yoshoika, T; Albrow, M D; Beaulieu, J P; Brillant, S; Calitz, H; Cassan, A; Cook, K H; Coutures, C; Dieters, S; Prester, D D; Donatowicz, J; Fouque, P; Greenhill, J; Hill, K; Hoffman, M; Horne, K; J?rgensen, U G; Kane, S; Kubas, D; Marquette, J B; Martin, R; Meintjes, P; Menzies, J; Pollard, K R; Sahu, K C; Vinter, C; Wambsganss, J; Williams, A; Bode, M; Bramich, D M; Burgdorf, M; Snodgrass, C; Steele, I; Doublier, V; Foelmi, C

    2008-04-18

    We combine all available information to constrain the nature of OGLE-2005-BLG-071Lb, the second planet discovered by microlensing and the first in a high-magnification event. These include photometric and astrometric measurements from Hubble Space Telescope, as well as constraints from higher-order effects extracted from the ground-based light curve, such as microlens parallax, planetary orbital motion and finite-source effects. Our primary analysis leads to the conclusion that the host of Jovian planet OGLE-2005-BLG-071Lb is a foreground M dwarf, with mass M = 0.46 {+-} 0.04M{sub {circle_dot}}, distance D{sub l} = 3.3 {+-} 0.4 kpc, and thick-disk kinematics {nu}{sub LSR} {approx} 103 km s{sup -1}. From the best-fit model, the planet has mass M{sub p} = 3.5 {+-} 0.3 M{sub Jupiter}, lies at a projected separation r{sub {perpendicular}} = 3.6 {+-} 0.2 AU from its host and has an equilibrium temperature of T {approx} 50 K, i.e., similar to Neptune. A degenerate model less favored by {Delta}{sub {chi}}{sup 2} {approx} 4 gives essentially the same planetary mass M{sub p} = 3.3 {+-} 0.3 M{sub Jupiter} with a smaller projected separation, r{sub {perpendicular}} = 2.1 {+-} 0.1 AU, and higher equilibrium temperature T {approx} 68 K. These results from the primary analysis suggest that OGLE-2005-BLG-071Lb is likely to be the most massive planet yet discovered that is hosted by an M dwarf. However, the formation of such high-mass planetary companions in the outer regions of M-dwarf planetary systems is predicted to be unlikely within the core-accretion scenario. There are a number of caveats to this analysis, but these could mostly be resolved by a single astrometric measurement a few years after the event.

  1. Growth of graphene from SiC{0001} surfaces and its mechanisms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norimatsu, Wataru; Kusunoki, Michiko

    2014-01-01

    Graphene, a one-atom-layer carbon material, can be grown by thermal decomposition of SiC. On Si-terminated SiC(0001), graphene nucleates at steps and grows layer-by-layer, and as a result a homogeneous monolayer or bilayer can be obtained. We demonstrate this mechanism both experimentally and theoretically. On the C-face (000 1-bar ), multilayer graphene nucleates not only at steps, but also on the terraces. These differences reflect the distinct differences in the reactivity of these faces. Due to its high quality and structural controllability, graphene on SiC{0001} surfaces will be a platform for high-speed graphene device applications. (paper)

  2. Parametric Investigation of the Isothermal Kinetics of Growth of Graphene on a Nickel Catalyst in the Process of Chemical Vapor Deposition of Hydrocarbons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Futko, S. I.; Shulitskii, B. G.; Labunov, V. A.; Ermolaeva, E. M.

    2016-11-01

    A kinetic model of isothermal synthesis of multilayer graphene on the surface of a nickel foil in the process of chemical vapor deposition, on it, of hydrocarbons supplied in the pulsed regime is considered. The dependences of the number of graphene layers formed and the time of their growth on the temperature of the process, the concentration of acetylene, and the thickness of the nickel foil were calculated. The regime parameters of the process of chemical vapor deposition, at which single-layer graphene and bi-layer graphene are formed, were determined. The dynamics of growth of graphene domains at chemical-vapor-deposition parameters changing in wide ranges was investigated. It is shown that the time dependences of the rates of growth of single-layer graphene and bi-layer graphene are nonlinear in character and that they are determined by the kinetics of nucleation and growth of graphene and the diffusion flow of carbon atoms in the nickel foil.

  3. Synthesis and Application of Graphene Based Nanomaterials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Zhiwei

    Graphene, a two-dimensional sp2-bonded carbon material, has recently attracted major attention due to its excellent electrical, optical and mechanical properties. Depending on different applications, graphene and its derived hybrid nanomaterials can be synthesized by either bottom-up chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods for electronics, or various top-down chemical reaction methods for energy generation and storage devices. My thesis begins with the investigation of CVD synthesis of graphene thin films in Chapter 1, including the direct growth of bilayer graphene on insulating substrates and synthesis of "rebar graphene": a hybrid structure with graphene and carbon or boron nitride nanotubes. Chapter 2 discusses the synthesis of nanoribbon-shaped materials and their applications, including splitting of vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube carpets for supercapacitors, synthesis of dispersable ferromagnetic graphene nanoribbon stacks with enhanced electrical percolation properties in magnetic field, graphene nanoribbon/SnO 2 nanocomposite for lithium ion batteries, and enhanced electrocatalysis for hydrogen evolution reactions from WS2 nanoribbons. Next, Chapter 3 discusses graphene coated iron oxide nanomaterials and their use in energy storage applications. Finally, Chapter 4 introduces the development, characterization, and fabrication of laser induced graphene and its application as supercapacitors.

  4. Effect of impurity doping on tunneling conductance in AB-stacked bi-layer graphene: A tight-binding study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rout, G. C., E-mail: siva1987@iopb.res.in, E-mail: skp@iopb.res.in, E-mail: gcr@iopb.res.in [Physics Enclave, Plot No-664/4825, Lane-4A, Shree Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751031, Odisha (India); Sahu, Sivabrata [School of Applied Sciences (Physics), KIIT University, Bhubaneswar-751024, Odisha (India); Panda, S. K. [K.D. Science College, Pochilima, Hinjilicut,Pin-761101 Ganjam, Orissa (India)

    2016-04-13

    We report here a microscopic tight-binding model calculation for AB-stacked bilayer graphene in presence of biasing potential between the two layers and the impurity effects to study the evolution of the total density of states with special emphasis on opening of band gap near Dirac point. We have calculated the electron Green’s functions for both the A and B sub-lattices by Zubarev technique. The imaginary part of the Green’s function gives the partial and total density of states of electrons. The density of states are computed numerically for 1000 × 1000 grid points of the electron momentum. The evolution of the opening of band gap near van-Hove singularities as well as near Dirac point is investigated by varying the different interlayer hoppings and the biasing potentials. The inter layer hopping splits the density of states at van-Hove singularities and produces a V-shaped gap near Dirac point. Further the biasing potential introduces a U shaped gap near Dirac point with a density minimum at the applied potential(i.e. at V/2).

  5. Effect of impurity doping on tunneling conductance in AB-stacked bi-layer graphene: A tight-binding study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rout, G. C.; Sahu, Sivabrata; Panda, S. K.

    2016-01-01

    We report here a microscopic tight-binding model calculation for AB-stacked bilayer graphene in presence of biasing potential between the two layers and the impurity effects to study the evolution of the total density of states with special emphasis on opening of band gap near Dirac point. We have calculated the electron Green’s functions for both the A and B sub-lattices by Zubarev technique. The imaginary part of the Green’s function gives the partial and total density of states of electrons. The density of states are computed numerically for 1000 × 1000 grid points of the electron momentum. The evolution of the opening of band gap near van-Hove singularities as well as near Dirac point is investigated by varying the different interlayer hoppings and the biasing potentials. The inter layer hopping splits the density of states at van-Hove singularities and produces a V-shaped gap near Dirac point. Further the biasing potential introduces a U shaped gap near Dirac point with a density minimum at the applied potential(i.e. at V/2).

  6. Sunlight-driven eco-friendly smart curtain based on infrared responsive graphene oxide-polymer photoactuators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leeladhar; Raturi, Parul; Singh, J P

    2018-02-27

    Photomechanical actuation is the conversion of light energy into mechanical energy through some smart materials. Infrared-responsive smart materials have become an emerging field of research due to easy availability and eco-friendly nature of their stimulus in the form of sunlight, which contains about 50% of near-infrared(nIR) making these materials useful at macro-scale photoactuator applications. Here, we demonstrate fabrication of highly versatile nIR triggered photoactuators based on graphene oxide/polycarbonate bilayers that offers fast, low-cost fabrication, large deflection, reversible actuation and wavelength-selective response. The photoactuators are realized by vacuum filtration of graphene oxide/water dispersion through polycarbonate membrane resulting graphene oxide/polymer bilayer structure. The photoactuation response was measured in the form of deflection from equilibrium position as a result of infrared-irradiation. The deflection is caused by the generated thermal stress at the interface of bilayers due to mismatch of thermal expansion coefficient as a results of nIR absorption by graphene oxide and subsequent temperature rise. A maximum deflection of 12 mm (circular-shaped structure with diameter 28 mm) with corresponding bending curvature of 0.33 cm -1 was shown by this photoactuator for illumination intensity of 106 mW/cm 2 . Few applications of these photoactuators such as sunlight-driven smart curtain, infrared actuated curtain and self-folding box are also demonstrated.

  7. A giant planet beyond the snow line in microlensing event OGLE-2011-BLG-0251

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kains, N.; Street, R.A.; Choi, J.-Y.

    2013-01-01

    Aims. We present the analysis of the gravitational microlensing event OGLE-2011-BLG-0251. This anomalous event was observed by several survey and follow-up collaborations conducting microlensing observations towards the Galactic bulge. Methods. Based on detailed modelling of the observed light cu...

  8. Layer-by-layer self-assembled multilayer films composed of graphene/polyaniline bilayers: high-energy electrode materials for supercapacitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarker, Ashis K; Hong, Jong-Dal

    2012-08-28

    Multilayer assemblies of uniform ultrathin film electrodes with good electrical conductivity and very large surface areas were prepared for use as electrochemical capacitors. A layer-by-layer self-assembly approach was employed in an effort to improve the processability of highly conducting polyaniline (PANi) and chemically modified graphene. The electrochemical properties of the multilayer film (MF-) electrodes, including the sheet resistance, volumetric capacitance, and charge/discharge ratio, were determined by the morphological modification and the method used to reduce the graphene oxide (GO) to reduced graphene oxide (RGO) in the multilayer films. The PANi and GO concentrations could be modulated to control the morphology of the GO monolayer film in the multilayer assemblies. Optical ellipsometry was used to determine the thickness of the GO film in a single layer (1.32 nm), which agreed well with the literature value (~1.3 nm). Hydroiodic acid (HI), hydrazine, or pyrolysis were tested for the reduction of GO to RGO. HI was found to be the most efficient technique for reducing the GO to RGO in the multilayer assemblies while minimizing damage to the virgin state of the acid-doped PANi. Ultimately, the MF-electrode, which could be optimized by fine-tuning the nanostructure and selecting a suitable reduction method, exhibited an excellent volumetric capacitance, good cycling stability, and a rapid charge/discharge rate, which are required for supercapacitors. A MF-electrode composed of 15 PANi/RGO bilayers yielded a volumetric capacitance of 584 F/cm(3) at a current density of 3.0 A/cm(3). Although this value decreased exponentially as the current density increased, approaching a value of 170 F/cm(3) at 100 A/cm(3), this volumetric capacitance is one of the best yet reported for the other carbon-based materials. The intriguing features of the MF-electrodes composed of PANi/RGO multilayer films offer a new microdimensional design for high energy storage devices

  9. Graphene growth by transfer-free chemical vapour deposition on a cobalt layer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macháč, Petr; Hejna, Ondřej; Slepička, Petr

    2017-01-01

    The contribution deals with the preparation of graphene films by a transfer-free chemical vapour deposition process utilizing a thin cobalt layer. This method allows growing graphene directly on a dielectric substrate. The process was carried out in a cold-wall reactor with methane as carbon precursor. We managed to prepare bilayer graphene. The best results were obtained for a structure with a cobalt layer with a thickness of 50 nm. The quality of prepared graphene films and of the number of graphene layers were estimated using Raman spectroscopy. with a minimal dots diameter of 180 nm and spacing of 1000 nm were successfully developed.

  10. Tunable hybridization between electronic states of graphene and physisorbed hexacene

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Yin, Y.; Červenka, Jiří; Medhekar, N.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 119, č. 33 (2015), s. 19526-19534 ISSN 1932-7447 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : bilayer graphene * band-gap * functionalization Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 4.509, year: 2015

  11. Finite-size effects on electronic structure and local properties in passivated AA -stacked bilayer armchair-edge graphene nanoribbons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Xiongwen; Shi, Zhengang; Xiang, Shaohua; Song, Kehui; Zhou, Guanghui

    2017-01-01

    Based on the tight-binding model and dual-probe scanning tunneling microscopy technology, we theoretically investigate the electronic structure and local property in the passivated AA -stacked bilayer armchair-edge graphene nanoribbons (AABLAGNRs). We show that they are highly sensitive to the size of the ribbons, which is evidently different from the single-layer armchair-edge graphene nanoribbons. The ‘3 p ’ rule only applies to the narrow AABLGNRs. Namely, in the passivated 3 p - and (3 p   +  1)-AABLGNRs, the narrow ribbons are semiconducting while the medium and wide ribbons are metallic. Although the passivated (3 p   +  2)-AABLGNRs are metallic, the ‘3 j ’ rule only applies to the narrow and medium ribbons. Namely, electrons are in the semiconducting states at sites of line 3 j while they are in the metallic states at other sites. This induces a series of parallel and discrete metallic channels, consisting of lines 3 j   −  1 and 3 j   −  2, for the low-energy electronic transports. In the passivated wide (3 p   +  2)-AABLGNRs, all electrons are in the metallic states. Additionally, the ‘3 p ’ and ‘3 j ’ rules are controllable to disappear and reappear by applying an external perpendicular electric field. Resultantly, an electric filed-driven current switch can be realized in the passivated narrow and medium (3 p   +  2)-AABLGNRs. (paper)

  12. Graphene-graphite oxide field-effect transistors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Standley, Brian; Mendez, Anthony; Schmidgall, Emma; Bockrath, Marc

    2012-03-14

    Graphene's high mobility and two-dimensional nature make it an attractive material for field-effect transistors. Previous efforts in this area have used bulk gate dielectric materials such as SiO(2) or HfO(2). In contrast, we have studied the use of an ultrathin layered material, graphene's insulating analogue, graphite oxide. We have fabricated transistors comprising single or bilayer graphene channels, graphite oxide gate insulators, and metal top-gates. The graphite oxide layers show relatively minimal leakage at room temperature. The breakdown electric field of graphite oxide was found to be comparable to SiO(2), typically ~1-3 × 10(8) V/m, while its dielectric constant is slightly higher, κ ≈ 4.3. © 2012 American Chemical Society

  13. Raman spectroscopy in graphene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malard, L.M.; Pimenta, M.A.; Dresselhaus, G.; Dresselhaus, M.S.

    2009-01-01

    Recent Raman scattering studies in different types of graphene samples are reviewed here. We first discuss the first-order and the double resonance Raman scattering mechanisms in graphene, which give rise to the most prominent Raman features. The determination of the number of layers in few-layer graphene is discussed, giving special emphasis to the possibility of using Raman spectroscopy to distinguish a monolayer from few-layer graphene stacked in the Bernal (AB) configuration. Different types of graphene samples produced both by exfoliation and using epitaxial methods are described and their Raman spectra are compared with those of 3D crystalline graphite and turbostratic graphite, in which the layers are stacked with rotational disorder. We show that Resonance Raman studies, where the energy of the excitation laser line can be tuned continuously, can be used to probe electrons and phonons near the Dirac point of graphene and, in particular allowing a determination to be made of the tight-binding parameters for bilayer graphene. The special process of electron-phonon interaction that renormalizes the phonon energy giving rise to the Kohn anomaly is discussed, and is illustrated by gated experiments where the position of the Fermi level can be changed experimentally. Finally, we discuss the ability of distinguishing armchair and zig-zag edges by Raman spectroscopy and studies in graphene nanoribbons in which the Raman signal is enhanced due to resonance with singularities in the density of electronic states.

  14. Platinum adsorption onto graphene and oxidized graphene: A quantum mechanics study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jafari, S.A.; Jahanshahi, M. [Nanotechnology Research Institute, School of Chemical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, Babol (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Ahangari, M. Ghorbanzadeh, E-mail: ghorbanzadeh.morteza@gmail.com [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2017-04-01

    Density functional theory based on first-principle calculations was used to examine platinum-supported oxidized graphene as a beneficial nanomaterial in terms of its catalytic activity and utility for contaminant removal and disinfecting polluted solutions in both domestic and industrial applications. The first step was to select the most appropriate available computing package to apply the supercell technique, which would provide a better representation of a large and real graphene slab. Using OpenMX was less time-consuming after we enforced a basis set for valence electrons to avoid an all-electron calculation, and this had very slight and negligible effect on the accuracy of the calculations. The OpenMX software was selected to perform forward steps of investigating changes in the properties such as adsorption energy and ground state structure of the complexes made by the adsorption of a platinum atom on the surface of pristine graphene (Pt/PG) and oxidized graphene (Pt/OG), which had the lowest adsorption energy of −5.28 eV. Moreover, we examined the effect of Pt atom adsorption on the surface and between two layers of graphene. Our results show that, there was no specific change observed in mentioned properties of Pt atom adsorption on bilayer graphene in comparison with single layer. - Highlights: • Pt adsorption on graphene and oxidized graphene was examined. • We have also considered the effect of the layered graphene on the Pt adsorption. • We first compared two different DFT calculation codes, SIESTA and OpenMX. • We then used ORCA to validate and select a suitable computation package for this study.

  15. Self-assembled graphene/azo polyelectrolyte multilayer film and its application in electrochemical energy storage device.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Dongrui; Wang, Xiaogong

    2011-03-01

    Graphene/azo polyelectrolyte multilayer films were fabricated through electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly, and their performance as electrochemical capacitor electrode was investigated. Cationic azo polyelectrolyte (QP4VP-co-PCN) was synthesized through radical polymerization, postpolymerization azo coupling reaction, and quaternization. Negatively charged graphene nanosheets were prepared by a chemically modified method. The LbL films were obtained by alternately dipping a piece of the pretreated substrates in the QP4VP-co-PCN and nanosheet solutions. The processes were repeated until the films with required numbers of bilayers were obtained. The self-assembly and multilayer surface morphology were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, AFM, SEM, and TEM. The performance of the LbL films as electrochemical capacitor electrode was estimated using cyclic voltammetry. Results show that the graphene nanosheets are densely packed in the multilayers and form random graphene network. The azo polyelectrolyte cohesively interacts with the nanosheets in the multilayer structure, which prevents agglomeration of graphene nanosheets. The sheet resistance of the LbL films decreases with the increase of the layer numbers and reaches the stationary value of 1.0 × 10(6) Ω/square for the film with 15 bilayers. At a scanning rate of 50 mV/s, the LbL film with 9 bilayers shows a gravimetric specific capacitance of 49 F/g in 1.0 M Na(2)SO(4) solution. The LbL films developed in this work could be a promising type of the electrode materials for electric energy storage devices.

  16. Vibrational characteristics of graphene sheets elucidated using an elastic network model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Min Hyeok; Kim, Daejoong; Choi, Jae Boong; Kim, Moon Ki

    2014-08-07

    Recent studies of graphene have demonstrated its great potential for highly sensitive resonators. In order to capture the intrinsic vibrational characteristics of graphene, we propose an atomistic modeling method called the elastic network model (ENM), in which a graphene sheet is modeled as a mass-spring network of adjacent atoms connected by various linear springs with specific bond ratios. Normal mode analysis (NMA) reveals the various vibrational features of bi-layer graphene sheets (BLGSs) clamped at two edges. We also propose a coarse-graining (CG) method to extend our graphene study into the meso- and macroscales, at which experimental measurements and synthesis of graphene become practical. The simulation results show good agreement with experimental observations. Therefore, the proposed ENM approach will not only shed light on the theoretical study of graphene mechanics, but also play an important role in the design of highly-sensitive graphene-based resonators.

  17. Electrostatic force microscopy and electrical isolation of etched few-layer graphene nano-domains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hunley, D. Patrick; Sundararajan, Abhishek; Boland, Mathias J.; Strachan, Douglas R., E-mail: doug.strachan@uky.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506 (United States)

    2014-12-15

    Nanostructured bi-layer graphene samples formed through catalytic etching are investigated with electrostatic force microscopy. The measurements and supporting computations show a variation in the microscopy signal for different nano-domains that are indicative of changes in capacitive coupling related to their small sizes. Abrupt capacitance variations detected across etch tracks indicates that the nano-domains have strong electrical isolation between them. Comparison of the measurements to a resistor-capacitor model indicates that the resistance between two bi-layer graphene regions separated by an approximately 10 nm wide etch track is greater than about 1×10{sup 12} Ω with a corresponding gap resistivity greater than about 3×10{sup 14} Ω⋅nm. This extremely large gap resistivity suggests that catalytic etch tracks within few-layer graphene samples are sufficient for providing electrical isolation between separate nano-domains that could permit their use in constructing atomically thin nanogap electrodes, interconnects, and nanoribbons.

  18. Electrostatic force microscopy and electrical isolation of etched few-layer graphene nano-domains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunley, D. Patrick; Sundararajan, Abhishek; Boland, Mathias J.; Strachan, Douglas R.

    2014-01-01

    Nanostructured bi-layer graphene samples formed through catalytic etching are investigated with electrostatic force microscopy. The measurements and supporting computations show a variation in the microscopy signal for different nano-domains that are indicative of changes in capacitive coupling related to their small sizes. Abrupt capacitance variations detected across etch tracks indicates that the nano-domains have strong electrical isolation between them. Comparison of the measurements to a resistor-capacitor model indicates that the resistance between two bi-layer graphene regions separated by an approximately 10 nm wide etch track is greater than about 1×10 12  Ω with a corresponding gap resistivity greater than about 3×10 14  Ω⋅nm. This extremely large gap resistivity suggests that catalytic etch tracks within few-layer graphene samples are sufficient for providing electrical isolation between separate nano-domains that could permit their use in constructing atomically thin nanogap electrodes, interconnects, and nanoribbons

  19. Synthesis of transfer-free graphene on cemented carbide surface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Xiang; Zhang, Zhen; Liu, Fei; Ren, Yi

    2018-03-19

    Direct growth of spherical graphene with large surface area is important for various applications in sensor technology. However, the preparation of transfer-free graphene on different substrates is still a challenge. This study presents a novel approach for the transfer-free graphene growth directly on cemented carbide. The used simple thermal annealing induces an in-situ transformation of magnetron-sputtered amorphous silicon carbide films into the graphene matrix. The study reveals the role of Co, a binding phase in cemented carbides, in Si sublimation process, and its interplay with the annealing temperature in development of the graphene matrix. A detailed physico-chemical characterisation was performed by structural (XRD analysis and Raman spectroscopy with mapping studies), morphological (SEM) and chemical (EDS) analyses. The optimal bilayer graphene matrix with hollow graphene spheres on top readily grows at 1000 °C. Higher annealing temperature critically decreases the amount of Si, which yields an increased number of the graphene layers and formation of multi-layer graphene (MLG). The proposed action mechanism involves silicidation of Co during thermal treatment, which influences the existing chemical form of Co, and thus, the graphene formation and variations in a number of the formed graphene layers.

  20. Imaging of few‐layer graphene flakes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksen, René Lynge; Albrektsen, Ole; Novikov, Sergey M.

    In this work, we successfully demonstrate how imaging ellipsometry can be applied to obtain high‐resolution thickness maps of few‐layer graphene (FLG) samples, with the results being thoroughly validated in a comparative study using several complementary techniques: Optical reflection microscopy...... (ORM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning confocal Raman microscopy. The thickness map, revealing distinct terraces separated by steps corresponding to mono‐ and bilayers of graphene, is extracted from a pixel‐to‐pixel fitting of ellipsometric spectra using optical constants derived by fitting...... slab model calculations to averaged spectra collected in large homogenous sample areas. An analysis of reflection spectra and contrast images acquired by ORM confirm the results by quantifying the number of graphene layers and retrieving the FLG optical constants using a simple Fresnel‐law‐based slab...

  1. Detection of rotation in a binary microlens : PLANET photometry of MACHO 97-BLG-41

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Albrow, MD; Beaulieu, JP; Caldwell, JAR; Dominik, M; Gaudi, BS; Gould, A; Greenhill, J; Hill, K; Kane, S; Martin, R; Menzies, J; Pollard, KR; Sackett, PD; Sahu, KC; Vermaak, P; Watson, R; Williams, A; Bond, HE; van Bemmel, IM

    2000-01-01

    We analyze PLANET collaboration data for MACHO 97-BLG-41, the only microlensing event observed to date in which the source transits two disjoint caustics. The PLANET data, consisting of 46 V-band and 325 I-band observations from five southern observatories, span a period from the initial alert until

  2. Graphene on insulating crystalline substrates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akcoeltekin, S; El Kharrazi, M; Koehler, B; Lorke, A; Schleberger, M

    2009-01-01

    We show that it is possible to prepare and identify ultra-thin sheets of graphene on crystalline substrates such as SrTiO 3 , TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 and CaF 2 by standard techniques (mechanical exfoliation, optical and atomic force microscopy). On the substrates under consideration we find a similar distribution of single layer, bilayer and few-layer graphene and graphite flakes as with conventional SiO 2 substrates. The optical contrast C of a single graphene layer on any of those substrates is determined by calculating the optical properties of a two-dimensional metallic sheet on the surface of a dielectric, which yields values between C = -1.5% (G/TiO 2 ) and C = -8.8% (G/CaF 2 ). This contrast is in reasonable agreement with experimental data and is sufficient to make identification by an optical microscope possible. The graphene layers cover the crystalline substrate in a carpet-like mode and the height of single layer graphene on any of the crystalline substrates as determined by atomic force microscopy is d SLG = 0.34 nm and thus much smaller than on SiO 2 .

  3. Oscillating Magnetoresistance in Graphene p-n Junctions at Intermediate Magnetic Fields.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Overweg, Hiske; Eggimann, Hannah; Liu, Ming-Hao; Varlet, Anastasia; Eich, Marius; Simonet, Pauline; Lee, Yongjin; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Richter, Klaus; Fal'ko, Vladimir I; Ensslin, Klaus; Ihn, Thomas

    2017-05-10

    We report on the observation of magnetoresistance oscillations in graphene p-n junctions. The oscillations have been observed for six samples, consisting of single-layer and bilayer graphene, and persist up to temperatures of 30 K, where standard Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are no longer discernible. The oscillatory magnetoresistance can be reproduced by tight-binding simulations. We attribute this phenomenon to the modulated densities of states in the n- and p-regions.

  4. Detecting the local transport properties and the dimensionality of transport of epitaxial graphene by a multi-point probe approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barreto, Lucas; Perkins, Edward; Johannsen, Jens

    2013-01-01

    The electronic transport properties of epitaxial monolayer graphene (MLG) and hydrogen-intercalated quasi free-standing bilayer graphene (QFBLG) on SiC(0001) are investigated by micro multi-point probes. Using a probe with 12 contacts, we perform four-point probe measurements with the possibility...

  5. Dynamic behavior of ultra large graphene-based membranes using electrothermal transduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-mashaal, A. K.; Wood, G. S.; Torin, A.; Mastropaolo, E.; Newton, M. J.; Cheung, R.

    2017-12-01

    This letter reports an experimental study of an electrothermal actuator made from an ultra-large graphene-based bilayer thin film with a diameter to thickness aspect ratio of ˜10 000. Suspended thin films consisting of multilayer graphene and 350-500 nm-thick Poly(methyl methacrylate) have been transferred over circular cavities with a diameter of 3.5 mm. The use of bilayer materials with different mechanical and thermal properties results in thin film structures that can be induced to vibrate mechanically under the electrothermal transduction mechanism. The dynamic response of the bilayer has been investigated electrothermally by driving the structures with a combination of alternating current and direct current actuation voltages ( Va c and Vd c) and characterizing their resonant frequencies. It has been found that the bilayer thin film structure behaves as a membrane. In addition, the actuation configurations affect not only the amplitude of vibration but also the tuning of the resonant frequency of the vibrating membranes. The existence of Joule heating-induced tension lowers the mechanical stiffness of the membrane and hence shifts the resonant frequency downwards by -108187 ppm. A resonant frequency of 3.26 kHz with a vibration amplitude of 4.34 nm has been achieved for 350 nm-thick membranes under actuation voltages of 1 V of Va c and 8 V of Vd c.

  6. Carbon isotope labelling in graphene research

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Frank, Otakar; Kavan, Ladislav; Kalbáč, Martin

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 6, č. 12 (2014), s. 6363-6370 ISSN 2040-3364 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-07724S; GA MŠk LL1301; GA ČR GA14-15357S Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION * STACKED BILAYER GRAPHENE * SENSITIZED SOLAR-CELLS Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 7.394, year: 2014

  7. Gate tuneable beamsplitter in ballistic graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rickhaus, Peter; Makk, Péter, E-mail: Peter.Makk@unibas.ch; Schönenberger, Christian [Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel (Switzerland); Liu, Ming-Hao; Richter, Klaus [Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg (Germany)

    2015-12-21

    We present a beam splitter in a suspended, ballistic, multiterminal, bilayer graphene device. By using local bottomgates, a p-n interface tilted with respect to the current direction can be formed. We show that the p-n interface acts as a semi-transparent mirror in the bipolar regime and that the reflectance and transmittance of the p-n interface can be tuned by the gate voltages. Moreover, by studying the conductance features appearing in magnetic field, we demonstrate that the position of the p-n interface can be moved by 1 μm. The herein presented beamsplitter device can form the basis of electron-optic interferometers in graphene.

  8. Valley Hall Conductivity in Graphene: Effects of Higher-Order Scattering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ando, Tsuneya

    2018-04-01

    The valley Hall conductivity, having opposite signs between the K and K' valleys, is calculated in monolayer and bilayer graphenes with nonzero gap in the presence of short-range scatterers within a single-site approximation. In the case of small disorder, the Hall conductivity is quantized into ±e2/2h and ±e2/h in the monolayer and bilayer graphene, respectively, in the gap region, while it is enhanced over the results in the absence of scatterers in the band region. With the increase in the strength of each impurity potential, large asymmetry between the conduction and valence band appears. For scatterers with attractive potential, the disorder parameter is effectively enhanced and reduced in the conduction and valence band, respectively. The behavior is opposite for repulsive scatterers. Effects of skew scattering causing asymmetry in the scattering direction remain small and do not play significant role.

  9. Structural and electronic properties of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0 0 0 1): a review of growth, characterization, transfer doping and hydrogen intercalation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riedl, C; Coletti, C; Starke, U

    2010-01-01

    Graphene, a monoatomic layer of graphite, hosts a two-dimensional electron gas system with large electron mobilities which makes it a prospective candidate for future carbon nanodevices. Grown epitaxially on silicon carbide (SiC) wafers, large area graphene samples appear feasible and integration in existing device technology can be envisioned. This paper reviews the controlled growth of epitaxial graphene layers on SiC(0 0 0 1) and the manipulation of their electronic structure. We show that epitaxial graphene on SiC grows on top of a carbon interface layer that-although it has a graphite-like atomic structure-does not display the linear π-bands typical for graphene due to a strong covalent bonding to the substrate. Only the second carbon layer on top of this interface acts like monolayer graphene. With a further carbon layer, a graphene bilayer system develops. During the growth of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0 0 0 1) the number of graphene layers can be precisely controlled by monitoring the π-band structure. Experimental fingerprints for in situ growth control could be established. However, due to the influence of the interface layer, epitaxial graphene on SiC(0 0 0 1) is intrinsically n-doped and the layers have a long-range corrugation in their density of states. As a result, the Dirac point energy where the π-bands cross is shifted away from the Fermi energy, so that the ambipolar properties of graphene cannot be exploited. We demonstrate methods to compensate and eliminate this structural and electronic influence of the interface. We show that the band structure of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0 0 0 1) can be precisely tailored by functionalizing the graphene surface with tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ) molecules. Charge neutrality can be achieved for mono- and bilayer graphene. On epitaxial bilayer graphene, where a band gap opens due to the asymmetric electric field across the layers imposed by the interface, the magnitude of this band gap

  10. Thickness-Dependent Strain Effect on the Deformation of the Graphene-Encapsulated Au Nanoparticles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuangli Ye

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The strain effect on graphene-encapsulated Au nanoparticles is investigated. A finite-element calculation is performed to simulate the strain distribution and morphology of the monolayer and multilayer graphene-encapsulated Au nanoparticles, respectively. It can be found that the inhomogeneous strain and deformation are enhanced with the increasing shrinkage of the graphene shell. Moreover, the strain distribution and deformation are very sensitive to the layer number of the graphene shell. Especially, the inhomogeneous strain at the interface between the graphene shell and encapsulated Au nanoparticles is strongly tuned by the graphene thickness. For the mono- and bilayer graphene-encapsulated Au nanoparticles, the dramatic shape transformation can be observed. However, with increasing the graphene thickness further, there is hardly deformation for the encapsulated Au nanoparticles. These simulated results indicate that the strain and deformation can be designed by the graphene layer thickness, which provides an opportunity to engineer the structure and morphology of the graphene-encapsulated nanoparticles.

  11. Band gap tunning in BN-doped graphene systems with high carrier mobility

    KAUST Repository

    Kaloni, T. P.

    2014-02-17

    Using density functional theory, we present a comparative study of the electronic properties of BN-doped graphene monolayer, bilayer, trilayer, and multilayer systems. In addition, we address a superlattice of pristine and BN-doped graphene. Five doping levels between 12.5% and 75% are considered, for which we obtain band gaps from 0.02 eV to 2.43 eV. We demonstrate a low effective mass of the charge carriers.

  12. Tuning the energy gap of bilayer α-graphyne by applying strain and electric field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Hang; Wu, Wen-Zhi; Jin, Yu; Wan-Lin, Guo

    2016-02-01

    Our density functional theory calculations show that the energy gap of bilayer α-graphyne can be modulated by a vertically applied electric field and interlayer strain. Like bilayer graphene, the bilayer α-graphyne has electronic properties that are hardly changed under purely mechanical strain, while an external electric field can open the gap up to 120 meV. It is of special interest that compressive strain can further enlarge the field induced gap up to 160 meV, while tensile strain reduces the gap. We attribute the gap variation to the novel interlayer charge redistribution between bilayer α-graphynes. These findings shed light on the modulation of Dirac cone structures and potential applications of graphyne in mechanical-electric devices. Project supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2013CB932604 and 2012CB933403), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51472117 and 51535005), the Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures, China (Grant No. 0414K01), the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) Fundamental Research Funds, China (Grant No. NP2015203), and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

  13. SPITZER OBSERVATIONS OF OGLE-2015-BLG-1212 REVEAL A NEW PATH TOWARD BREAKING STRONG MICROLENS DEGENERACIES

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bozza, V.; Shvartzvald, Y.; Udalski, A.

    2016-01-01

    Spitzer microlensing parallax observations of OGLE-2015-BLG-1212 decisively break a degeneracy between planetary and binary solutions that is somewhat ambiguous when only ground-based data are considered. Only eight viable models survive out of an initial set of 32 local minima in the parameter s...

  14. 1/f noise in graphene nanopores

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heerema, S J; Schneider, G F; Rozemuller, M; Vicarelli, L; Zandbergen, H W; Dekker, C

    2015-01-01

    Graphene nanopores are receiving great attention due to their atomically thin membranes and intrinsic electrical properties that appear greatly beneficial for biosensing and DNA sequencing. Here, we present an extensive study of the low-frequency 1/f noise in the ionic current through graphene nanopores and compare it to noise levels in silicon nitride pore currents. We find that the 1/f noise magnitude is very high for graphene nanopores: typically two orders of magnitude higher than for silicon nitride pores. This is a drawback as it significantly lowers the signal-to-noise ratio in DNA translocation experiments. We evaluate possible explanations for these exceptionally high noise levels in graphene pores. From examining the noise for pores of different diameters and at various salt concentrations, we find that in contrast to silicon nitride pores, the 1/f noise in graphene pores does not follow Hooge’s relation. In addition, from studying the dependence on the buffer pH, we show that the increased noise cannot be explained by charge fluctuations of chemical groups on the pore rim. Finally, we compare single and bilayer graphene to few-layer and multi-layer graphene and boron nitride (h-BN), and we find that the noise reduces with layer thickness for both materials, which suggests that mechanical fluctuations may be the underlying cause of the high 1/f noise levels in monolayer graphene nanopore devices. (paper)

  15. A theoretical study of symmetry-breaking organic overlayers on single- and bi-layer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morales-Cifuentes, Josue; Einstein, T. L.

    2013-03-01

    An ``overlayer'' of molecules that breaks the AB symmetry of graphene can produce (modify) a band gap in single- (bi-) layer graphene.[2] Since the triangular shaped trimesic acid (TMA) molecule forms two familiar symmetry breaking configurations, we are motivated to model TMA physisorption on graphene surfaces in conjunction with experiments by Groce et al. at UMD. Using VASP, with ab initio van der Waals density functionals (vdW-DF), we simulate adsorption of TMA onto a graphene surface in several symmetry-breaking arrangements in order to predict/understand the effect of TMA adsorption on experimental observables. Supported by NSF-MRSEC Grant DMR 05-20471.

  16. Nanoscale synthesis and characterization of graphene-based objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daisuke Fujita

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Graphene-based nano-objects such as nanotrenches, nanowires, nanobelts and nanoscale superstructures have been grown by surface segregation and precipitation on carbon-doped mono- and polycrystalline nickel substrates in ultrahigh vacuum. The dominant morphologies of the nano-objects were nanowire and nanosheet. Nucleation of graphene sheets occurred at surface defects such as step edges and resulted in the directional growth of nanowires. Surface analysis by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM has clarified the structure and functionality of the novel nano-objects at atomic resolution. Nanobelts were detected consisting of bilayer graphene sheets with a nanoscale width and a length of several microns. Moiré patterns and one-dimensional reconstruction were observed on multilayer graphite terraces. As a useful functionality, application to repairable high-resolution STM probes is demonstrated.

  17. Nonlinear properties of gated graphene in a strong electromagnetic field

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Avetisyan, A. A., E-mail: artakav@ysu.am; Djotyan, A. P., E-mail: adjotyan@ysu.am [Yerevan State University, Department of Physics (Armenia); Moulopoulos, K., E-mail: cos@ucy.ac.cy [University of Cyprus, Department of Physics (Cyprus)

    2017-03-15

    We develop a microscopic theory of a strong electromagnetic field interaction with gated bilayer graphene. Quantum kinetic equations for density matrix are obtained using a tight binding approach within second quantized Hamiltonian in an intense laser field. We show that adiabatically changing the gate potentials with time may produce (at resonant photon energy) a full inversion of the electron population with high density between valence and conduction bands. In the linear regime, excitonic absorption of an electromagnetic radiation in a graphene monolayer with opened energy gap is also studied.

  18. Final Report on Investigation of the Electron Interactions in Graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Philip [Columbia University

    2015-02-14

    In graphene, combined with the real spin degree of freedom, which exhibits SU(2) symmetry, the total internal degrees of freedom of graphene carriers is thus described by a larger SU(4) symmetry, which produces a richer space for potential phenomena of emergent correlated electron phenomena. The major part of this proposal is exploring this unique multicomponent correlated system in the quantum limit. In the current period of DOE BES support we have made several key advances that will serve as a foundation for the new studies in this proposal. Employing the high-mobility encapsulated graphene heterostructures developed during the current phase of research, we have investigated spin and valley quantum Hall ferromagnetism in graphene and discovered a spin phase transition leading to a quantum spin Hall analogue. We have also observed the fractal quantum Hall effect arising from the Hofstadter’s butterfly energy spectrum. In addition, we have discovered multiband transport phenomena in bilayer graphene at high carrier densities.

  19. Metallic behavior and enhanced adsorption energy of graphene on BN layer induced by Cu(111) substrate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hashmi, Arqum; Hong, Jisang

    2014-01-01

    We have investigated the adsorption properties and the electronic structure of graphene/BN and graphene/BN/Cu(111) systems by using van der Waals density functional theory. The ground-state adsorption site of graphene on BN/Cu(111) is found to be the same as that of graphene/BN. The Cu(111) substrate did not induce a significant change in the geometrical feature of graphene/BN. However, the adsorption energy of graphene on BN/Cu(111) is observed to be enhanced due to the Cu(111) substrate. In addition, we have found that the graphene layer displays a weak metallic character in graphene/BN/Cu(111) whereas an energy band gap is observed in the graphene in the graphene/BN bilayer system. Therefore, we have found that the metallic Cu(111) substrate affects the electronic structure and adsorption properties of graphene on BN/Cu(111), although it has no significant effect on the geometrical features.

  20. Creation of quasi-Dirac points in the Floquet band structure of bilayer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheung, W M; Chan, K S

    2017-06-01

    We study the Floquet quasi-energy band structure of bilayer graphene when it is illuminated by two laser lights with frequencies [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] using Floquet theory. We focus on the dynamical gap formed by the conduction band with Floquet index  =  -1 and the valence band with Floquet index  =  +1 to understand how Dirac points can be formed. It is found that the dynamical gap does not have rotation symmetry in the momentum space, and quasi-Dirac points, where the conduction and valence bands almost touch, can be created when the dynamical gap closes along some directions with suitably chosen radiation parameters. We derive analytical expressions for the direction dependence of the dynamical gaps using Lowdin perturbation theory to gain a better understanding of the formation of quasi-Dirac points. When both radiations are circularly polarized, the gap can be exactly zero along some directions, when only the first and second order perturbations are considered. Higher order perturbations can open a very small gap in this case. When both radiations are linearly polarized, the gap can be exactly zero up to the fourth order perturbation and more than one quasi-Dirac point is formed. We also study the electron velocity around a dynamical gap and show that the magnitude of the velocity drops to values close to zero when the k vector is near to the gap minimum. The direction of the velocity also changes around the gap minimum, and when the gap is larger in value the change in the velocity direction is more gradual. The warping effect does not affect the formation of a Dirac point along the k x axis, while it prevents its formation when there is phase shift between the two radiations.

  1. Atomic layer deposited oxide films as protective interface layers for integrated graphene transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabrero-Vilatela, A.; Alexander-Webber, J. A.; Sagade, A. A.; Aria, A. I.; Braeuninger-Weimer, P.; Martin, M.-B.; Weatherup, R. S.; Hofmann, S.

    2017-12-01

    The transfer of chemical vapour deposited graphene from its parent growth catalyst has become a bottleneck for many of its emerging applications. The sacrificial polymer layers that are typically deposited onto graphene for mechanical support during transfer are challenging to remove completely and hence leave graphene and subsequent device interfaces contaminated. Here, we report on the use of atomic layer deposited (ALD) oxide films as protective interface and support layers during graphene transfer. The method avoids any direct contact of the graphene with polymers and through the use of thicker ALD layers (≥100 nm), polymers can be eliminated from the transfer-process altogether. The ALD film can be kept as a functional device layer, facilitating integrated device manufacturing. We demonstrate back-gated field effect devices based on single-layer graphene transferred with a protective Al2O3 film onto SiO2 that show significantly reduced charge trap and residual carrier densities. We critically discuss the advantages and challenges of processing graphene/ALD bilayer structures.

  2. Electron Transport in Graphene From a Diffusion-Drift Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-24

    Tung, M.E. Schwartz, M. Takita, Y.-J. Wang, P. Kim, and H.L. Stormer , “Cyclotron resonance in bilayer graphene,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 087403 (2008...Dec. 2004. [3] K. I. Bolotin, K. J. Sikes, Z. Jiang, M. Klima, G. Fudenberg, J. Hone, P. Kim, and H. L. Stormer , “Ultrahigh electron mobility in

  3. Higher order BLG supersymmetry transformations from 10-dimensional super Yang Mills

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hall, John [Alumnus of Physics Department, Imperial College,South Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Low, Andrew [Physics Department, Wimbledon High School,Mansel Road, London, SW19 4AB (United Kingdom)

    2014-06-26

    We study a Simple Route for constructing the higher order Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson theory - both supersymmetry transformations and Lagrangian - starting from knowledge of only the 10-dimensional Super Yang Mills Fermion Supersymmetry transformation. We are able to uniquely determine the four-derivative order corrected supersymmetry transformations, to lowest non-trivial order in Fermions, for the most general three-algebra theory. For the special case of Euclidean three-algbera, we reproduce the result presented in arXiv:1207.1208, with significantly less labour. In addition, we apply our method to calculate the quadratic fermion terms in the higher order BLG fermion supersymmetry transformation.

  4. Effects of graphene imperfections on the structure of self-assembled pentacene films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jung, W; Ahn, S J; Lee, S Y; Kim, Y; Shin, H-C; Moon, Y; Park, C-Y; Ahn, J R; Woo, S H

    2015-01-01

    The quality of pentacene films in pentacene-based devices significantly affects their performance. In this report, the effects of various defects in graphene on a pentacene film were studied with scanning tunneling microscopy. The two most common defects found in the epitaxial graphene grown on SiC(0 0 0 1) substrates were subsurface carbon nanotube (CNT) defects and step edges. The most significant perturbation of the pentacene films was induced by step edges between single-layer and bilayer graphene domains, while the effect of step edges between single-layer domains was marginal. The subsurface CNT defects slightly distorted the structure of the single-layer pentacene, but the influence of such defects decreased as the thickness of the pentacene film increased. These results suggest that the uniformity of the graphene layer is the most important parameter in the growth of high-quality pentacene films on graphene. (paper)

  5. Light-assisted recharging of graphene quantum dots in fluorographene matrix

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Antonova, I. V. [A.V. Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Acad. Lavrentiev Avenue 13, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State University, Pirogov Street 2, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Nebogatikova, N. A.; Prinz, V. Ya. [A.V. Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Acad. Lavrentiev Avenue 13, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Popov, V. I.; Smagulova, S. A. [North - East Federal University, Yakutsk (Russian Federation)

    2014-10-07

    In the present study, the charge transient spectroscopy was used to analyze the transient relaxation of charges in graphene and bilayer-graphene quantum dot (QD) systems formed by chemical functionalization of graphene and few-layer graphene layers. A set of activation energies (one to three different values) for the emission of charges from QDs sized 50 to 70 nm, most likely proceeding via the thermal activation of charge carriers from QD quantum confinement levels, were deduced from measurements performed in the dark. Daylight illumination of samples during measurements was found to result in a strong decrease of the activation energies and in an involvement of an athermal process in the charge relaxation phenomenon. The time of the light-assisted emission of charge carriers from QDs proved to be two to four orders of magnitude shorter than the time of their emission from QDs under no-illumination conditions.

  6. A graphene Zener-Klein transistor cooled by a hyperbolic substrate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Wei; Berthou, Simon; Lu, Xiaobo; Wilmart, Quentin; Denis, Anne; Rosticher, Michael; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; Fève, Gwendal; Berroir, Jean-Marc; Zhang, Guangyu; Voisin, Christophe; Baudin, Emmanuel; Plaçais, Bernard

    2018-01-01

    The engineering of cooling mechanisms is a bottleneck in nanoelectronics. Thermal exchanges in diffusive graphene are mostly driven by defect-assisted acoustic phonon scattering, but the case of high-mobility graphene on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is radically different, with a prominent contribution of remote phonons from the substrate. Bilayer graphene on a hBN transistor with a local gate is driven in a regime where almost perfect current saturation is achieved by compensation of the decrease in the carrier density and Zener-Klein tunnelling (ZKT) at high bias. Using noise thermometry, we show that the ZKT triggers a new cooling pathway due to the emission of hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hBN by out-of-equilibrium electron-hole pairs beyond the super-Planckian regime. The combination of ZKT transport and hyperbolic phonon polariton cooling renders graphene on BN transistors a valuable nanotechnology for power devices and RF electronics.

  7. Interlocking Friction Governs the Mechanical Fracture of Bilayer MoS2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Gang Seob; Wang, Shanshan; Qin, Zhao; Martin-Martinez, Francisco J; Warner, Jamie H; Buehler, Markus J

    2018-04-24

    A molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) layered system is a two-dimensional (2D) material, which is expected to provide the next generation of electronic devices together with graphene and other 2D materials. Due to its significance for future electronics applications, gaining a deep insight into the fundamental mechanisms upon MoS 2 fracture is crucial to prevent mechanical failure toward reliable applications. Here, we report direct experimental observation and atomic modeling of the complex failure behaviors of bilayer MoS 2 originating from highly variable interlayer frictions, elucidated with in situ transmission electron microscopy and large-scale reactive molecular dynamics simulations. Our results provide a systematic understanding of the effects that different stacking and loading conditions have on the failure mechanisms and crack-tip behaviors in the bilayer MoS 2 systems. Our findings unveil essential properties in fracture of this 2D material and provide mechanistic insight into its mechanical failure.

  8. Spatially resolved mapping of electrical conductivity across individual domain (grain) boundaries in graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Kendal W; Zhang, X-G; Vlassiouk, Ivan V; He, Guowei; Feenstra, Randall M; Li, An-Ping

    2013-09-24

    All large-scale graphene films contain extended topological defects dividing graphene into domains or grains. Here, we spatially map electronic transport near specific domain and grain boundaries in both epitaxial graphene grown on SiC and CVD graphene on Cu subsequently transferred to a SiO2 substrate, with one-to-one correspondence to boundary structures. Boundaries coinciding with the substrate step on SiC exhibit a significant potential barrier for electron transport of epitaxial graphene due to the reduced charge transfer from the substrate near the step edge. Moreover, monolayer-bilayer boundaries exhibit a high resistance that can change depending on the height of substrate step coinciding at the boundary. In CVD graphene, the resistance of a grain boundary changes with the width of the disordered transition region between adjacent grains. A quantitative modeling of boundary resistance reveals the increased electron Fermi wave vector within the boundary region, possibly due to boundary induced charge density variation. Understanding how resistance change with domain (grain) boundary structure in graphene is a crucial first step for controlled engineering of defects in large-scale graphene films.

  9. Transfer characteristics and contact resistance in Ni- and Ti-contacted graphene-based field-effect transistors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Bartolomeo, A; Giubileo, F; Iemmo, L; Romeo, F; Santandrea, S; Gambardella, U

    2013-01-01

    We produced graphene-based field-effect transistors by contacting mono- and bi-layer graphene by sputtering Ni or Ti as metal electrodes. We performed electrical characterization of the devices by measuring their transfer and output characteristics. We clearly observed the presence of a double-dip feature in the conductance curve for Ni-contacted transistors, and we explain it in terms of charge transfer and graphene doping under the metal contacts. We also studied the contact resistance between the graphene and the metal electrodes with larger values of ∼30 kΩμm 2 recorded for Ti contacts. Importantly, we prove that the contact resistance is modulated by the back-gate voltage. (paper)

  10. Limb darkening of a K giant in the galactic bulge : Planet photometry of MACHO 97-BLG-28

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Albrow, MD; Beaulieu, JP; Caldwell, JAR; Dominik, M; Greenhill, J; Hill, K; Kane, S; Martin, R; Menzies, J; Pel, JW; Pollard, K; Sackett, PD; Sahu, KC; Vermaak, P; Watson, R; Williams, A; Sahu, MS

    1999-01-01

    We present the PLANET photometric data set(10) for the binary-lens microlensing event MACHO 97-BLG-28, consisting of 696 I- and V-band measurements, and analyze it to determine the radial surface brightness profile of the Galactic bulge source star. The microlensed source, demonstrated to be a K

  11. Water-dispersible triethylenetetramine-functionalized graphene: Preparation, characterization and application as an amperometric glucose sensor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ren, Qunxiang; Feng, Li; Fan, Ronghua; Ge, Xin; Sun, Yingying, E-mail: syyxiluda@hotmail.com

    2016-11-01

    The triethylenetetramine-functionalized graphene (TFGn) was prepared using graphene oxide (GO) and triethylenetetramine as raw materials through a one-step reaction under alkaline condition. The triethylenetetramine not only acted as cross-linker to combine GO, but also as reductant of GO. The TFGn was characterized by its ultraviolet spectrum (UV), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that triethylenetetramine was successfully grafted onto the surface of the GO through covalent bonding between amine and epoxy groups. The resultant TFGn was uniformly dispersed in water over several weeks, suggesting that the introduction of amino groups greatly increased the hydrophilicity of TFGn. The triethylenetetramine-functionalized graphene was then applied to fabricate glucose biosensors with IO{sub 4}{sup −} oxidized glucose oxidase (GOx) through layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly by the covalent bonding between the aldehyde groups of GOx and amino groups of TFGn. The gold electrodes modified with the (GOx/TFGn){sub n} multilayer films were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and showed outstanding electrocatalytical response to the oxidation of glucose when ferrocenemethanol was used as an artificial redox mediator. The response increased with an increasing number of GOx/TFGn bilayers, indicating that the analytical performance, such as the sensitivity of the glucose biosensor, could be adjusted by tuning the number of deposited GOx/TFGn bilayers. The linear response range of the biosensor constructed with six bilayers of GOx/TFGn to the concentration of glucose can extend to at least 8 mM with a sensitivity of 19.9 μA mM{sup −1} cm{sup −2}. In addition, the sensor exhibited good stability due to the covalent interactions between the GOx and TFGn. - Highlights: • Water-dispersible triethylenetetramine

  12. Van der Waals heterostructure of phosphorene and graphene: tuning the Schottky barrier and doping by electrostatic gating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padilha, J E; Fazzio, A; da Silva, Antônio J R

    2015-02-13

    In this Letter, we study the structural and electronic properties of single-layer and bilayer phosphorene with graphene. We show that both the properties of graphene and phosphorene are preserved in the composed heterostructure. We also show that via the application of a perpendicular electric field, it is possible to tune the position of the band structure of phosphorene with respect to that of graphene. This leads to control of the Schottky barrier height and doping of phosphorene, which are important features in the design of new devices based on van der Waals heterostructures.

  13. Inhomogeneous ozone doping and heat induced defects in graphene studied by infrared near-field microscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Wenjie; Zhang, Jiawei; Deng, Haiming; Liu, Megnkun; Xu, Du

    With the potential use of surface plasmon such as transfer data many orders faster than traditional wires, it has been very popular in research. The fact is that the wavelength of of plasmon is much shorter than the one of free space radiation. The UV ozone doping level can be fine controlled in room temperature creating selected plasmon circuit. We study inhomogeneous graphene plasmonics in ozone doped graphene using scattering-type scanning near-field infrared microscopy and spectroscopy. The single layer and bilayer graphene are doped with different dosage of ozone under UV exposure, which lead to surface inhomogeneity and inhomogeneous graphene plasmon polarition excitation under tip. After annealing the ozone doped graphene in air, the inhomogeneous doping induced plasmons disappear, together with the occurrence of local defects after high temperature annealing.

  14. Neutron Reflectivity Measurement for Polymer Dynamics near Graphene Oxide Monolayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koo, Jaseung

    We investigated the diffusion dynamics of polymer chains confined between graphene oxide layers using neutron reflectivity (NR). The bilayers of polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA)/ deuterated PMMA (d-PMMA) films and polystyrene (PS)/d-PS films with various film thickness sandwiched between Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) monolayers of graphene oxide (GO) were prepared. From the NR results, we found that PMMA diffusion dynamics was reduced near the GO surface while the PS diffusion was not significantly changed. This is due to the different strength of GO-polymer interaction. In this talk, these diffusion results will be compared with dewetting dynamics of polymer thin films on the GO monolayers. This has given us the basis for development of graphene-based nanoelectronics with high efficiency, such as heterojunction devices for polymer photovoltaic (OPV) applications.

  15. Bloch Surface Waves Using Graphene Layers: An Approach toward In-Plane Photodetectors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richa Dubey

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available A dielectric multilayer platform was investigated as a foundation for two-dimensional optics. In this paper, we present, to the best of our knowledge, the first experimental demonstration of absorption of Bloch surface waves in the presence of graphene layers. Graphene is initially grown on a Cu foil via Chemical Vapor Deposition and transferred layer by layer by a wet-transfer method using poly(methyl methacrylate, (PMMA. We exploit total internal reflection configuration and multi-heterodyne scanning near-field optical microscopy as a far-field coupling method and near-field characterization tool, respectively. The absorption is quantified in terms of propagation lengths of Bloch surface waves. A significant drop in the propagation length of the BSWs is observed in the presence of graphene layers. The propagation length of BSWs in bare multilayer is reduced to 17 times shorter in presence of graphene monolayer, and 23 times shorter for graphene bilayer.

  16. OGLE-2015-BLG-0479LA,B: BINARY GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENS CHARACTERIZED BY SIMULTANEOUS GROUND-BASED AND SPACE-BASED OBSERVATIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, C. [Department of Physics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-763 (Korea, Republic of); Udalski, A.; Szymański, M. K.; Soszyński, I.; Skowron, J.; Mróz, P.; Poleski, R. [Warsaw University Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa (Poland); Gould, A.; Zhu, Wei; Fausnaugh, M.; Gaudi, B. S.; Wibking, B. [Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 W. 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Street, R. A. [School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom); Yee, J. C. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Beichman, C.; Novati, S. Calchi [NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, MS 100-22, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Bryden, C.; Henderson, Calen B.; Shvartzvald, Y. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Carey, S. [Spitzer Science Center, MS 220-6, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States); Collaboration: (The Spitzer Microlensing Team; (The OGLE Collaboration; (The RoboNet collaboration; (The MiNDSTEp Consortium; (The μ FUN Collaboration; and others

    2016-09-01

    We present a combined analysis of the observations of the gravitational microlensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-0479 taken both from the ground and by the Spitzer Space Telescope . The light curves seen from the ground and from space exhibit a time offset of ∼13 days between the caustic spikes, indicating that the relative lens-source positions seen from the two places are displaced by parallax effects. From modeling the light curves, we measure the space-based microlens parallax. Combined with the angular Einstein radius measured by analyzing the caustic crossings, we determine the mass and distance of the lens. We find that the lens is a binary composed of two G-type stars with masses of ∼1.0 M {sub ⊙} and ∼0.9 M {sub ⊙} located at a distance of ∼3 kpc. In addition, we are able to constrain the complete orbital parameters of the lens thanks to the precise measurement of the microlens parallax derived from the joint analysis. In contrast to the binary event OGLE-2014-BLG-1050, which was also observed by Spitzer, we find that the interpretation of OGLE-2015-BLG-0479 does not suffer from the degeneracy between (±, ±) and (±, ∓) solutions, confirming that the four-fold parallax degeneracy in single-lens events collapses into the two-fold degeneracy for the general case of binary-lens events. The location of the blend in the color–magnitude diagram is consistent with the lens properties, suggesting that the blend is the lens itself. The blend is bright enough for spectroscopy and thus this possibility can be checked from future follow-up observations.

  17. Quantum Hall Effect and Semimetallic Behavior of Dual-Gated ABA-Stacked Trilayer Graphene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. A. Henriksen

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The electronic structure of multilayer graphenes depends strongly on the number of layers as well as the stacking order. Here we explore the electronic transport of purely ABA-stacked trilayer graphenes in a dual-gated field-effect device configuration. We find both that the zero-magnetic-field transport and the quantum Hall effect at high magnetic fields are distinctly different from the monolayer and bilayer graphenes, and that they show electron-hole asymmetries that are strongly suggestive of a semimetallic band overlap. When the ABA trilayers are subjected to an electric field perpendicular to the sheet, Landau-level splittings due to a lifting of the valley degeneracy are clearly observed.

  18. Anisotropic carrier mobility in single- and bi-layer C3N sheets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xueyan; Li, Qingfang; Wang, Haifeng; Gao, Yan; Hou, Juan; Shao, Jianxin

    2018-05-01

    Based on the density functional theory combined with the Boltzmann transport equation with relaxation time approximation, we investigate the electronic structure and predict the carrier mobility of single- and bi-layer newly fabricated 2D carbon nitrides C3N. Although C3N sheets possess graphene-like planar hexagonal structure, the calculated carrier mobility is remarkably anisotropic, which is found mainly induced by the anisotropic effective masses and deformation potential constants. Importantly, we find that both the electron and hole mobilities are considerable high, for example, the hole mobility along the armchair direction of single-layer C3N sheets can arrive as high as 1.08 ×104 cm2 V-1 s-1, greatly larger than that of C2N-h2D and many other typical 2D materials. Owing to the high and anisotropic carrier mobility and appropriate band gap, single- and bi-layer semiconducting C3N sheets may have great potential applications in high performance electronic and optoelectronic devices.

  19. Ion-ion correlations across and between electrified graphene layers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendez-Morales, Trinidad; Burbano, Mario; Haefele, Matthieu; Rotenberg, Benjamin; Salanne, Mathieu

    2018-05-01

    When an ionic liquid adsorbs onto a porous electrode, its ionic arrangement is deeply modified due to a screening of the Coulombic interactions by the metallic surface and by the confinement imposed upon it by the electrode's morphology. In particular, ions of the same charge can approach at close contact, leading to the formation of a superionic state. The impact of an electrified surface placed between two liquid phases is much less understood. Here we simulate a full supercapacitor made of the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate and nanoporous graphene electrodes, with varying distances between the graphene sheets. The electrodes are held at constant potential by allowing the carbon charges to fluctuate. Under strong confinement conditions, we show that ions of the same charge tend to adsorb in front of each other across the graphene plane. These correlations are allowed by the formation of a highly localized image charge on the carbon atoms between the ions. They are suppressed in larger pores, when the liquid adopts a bilayer structure between the graphene sheets. These effects are qualitatively similar to the recent templating effects which have been reported during the growth of nanocrystals on a graphene substrate.

  20. Ge-intercalated graphene: The origin of the p-type to n-type transition

    KAUST Repository

    Kaloni, Thaneshwor P.

    2012-09-01

    Recently huge interest has been focussed on Ge-intercalated graphene. In order to address the effect of Ge on the electronic structure, we study Ge-intercalated free-standing C 6 and C 8 bilayer graphene, bulk C 6Ge and C 8Ge, as well as Ge-intercalated graphene on a SiC(0001) substrate, by density functional theory. In the presence of SiC(0001), there are three ways to obtain n-type graphene: i) intercalation between C layers; ii) intercalation at the interface to the substrate in combination with Ge deposition on the surface; and iii) cluster intercalation. All other configurations under study result in p-type states irrespective of the Ge coverage. We explain the origin of the different doping states and establish the conditions under which a transition occurs. © Copyright EPLA, 2012.

  1. A route to strong p-doping of epitaxial graphene on SiC

    KAUST Repository

    Cheng, Yingchun

    2010-11-09

    The effects of Au intercalation on the electronic properties of epitaxialgraphenegrown on SiC{0001} substrates are studied using first principles calculations. A graphenemonolayer on SiC{0001} restores the shape of the pristine graphene dispersion, where doping levels between strongly n-doped and weakly p-doped can be achieved by altering the Au coverage. We predict that Au intercalation between the two C layers of bilayer graphenegrown on SiC{0001} makes it possible to achieve a strongly p-doped graphene state, where the p-doping level can be controlled by means of the Au coverage.

  2. Ab initio study of friction of graphene flake on graphene/graphite or SiC surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulseren, Oguz; Tayran, Ceren; Sayin, Ceren Sibel

    Recently, the rich dynamics of graphene flake on graphite or SiC surfaces are revealed from atomic force microcopy experiments. The studies toward to the understanding of microscopic origin of friction are getting a lot of attention. Despite the several studies of these systems using molecular dynamics methods, density functional theory based investigations are limited because of the huge system sizes. In this study, we investigated the frictional force on graphene flake on graphite or SiC surfaces from pseudopotential planewave calculations based on density functional theory. In both cases, graphene flake (24 C) on graphite or SiC surface, bilayer flake is introduced by freezing the top layer as well as the bottom layer of the surface slab. After fixing the load with these frozen layers, we checked the relative motion of the flake over the surface. A minimum energy is reached when the flake is moved on graphene to attain AB stacking. We also conclude that edge reconstruction because of the finite size of the flake is very critical for frictional properties of the flake; therefore the saturation of dangling bonds with hydrogen is also addressed. Not only the symmetric configurations remaining parameter space is extensively studied. Supported by TUBITAK Project No: 114F162. This work is supported by TUBITAK Project No: 114F162.

  3. Fully Transparent Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diode with a Laminated Top Graphene Anode.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Li; Fang, Xin; Gu, Wei; Zhai, Wenhao; Wan, Yi; Xie, Xixi; Xu, Wanjin; Pi, Xiaodong; Ran, Guangzhao; Qin, Guogang

    2017-07-19

    A new method to employ graphene as top electrode was introduced, and based on that, fully transparent quantum dot light-emitting diodes (T-QLEDs) were successfully fabricated through a lamination process. We adopted the widely used wet transfer method to transfer bilayer graphene (BG) on polydimethylsiloxane/polyethylene terephthalate (PDMS/PET) substrate. The sheet resistance of graphene reduced to ∼540 Ω/□ through transferring BG for 3 times on the PDMS/PET. The T-QLED has an inverted device structure of glass/indium tin oxide (ITO)/ZnO nanoparticles/(CdSSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs))/1,1-bis[(di-4-tolylamino)phenyl] cyclohexane (TAPC)/MoO 3 /graphene/PDMS/PET. The graphene anode on PDMS/PET substrate can be directly laminated on the MoO 3 /TAPC/(CdSSe/ZnS QDs)/ZnO nanoparticles/ITO/glass, which relied on the van der Waals interaction between the graphene/PDMS and the MoO 3 . The transmittance of the T-QLED is 79.4% at its main electroluminescence peak wavelength of 622 nm.

  4. Conversion of Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers and bilayers of poly(amic acid) through polyimide to graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jo, Hye Jin; Lyu, Ji Hong; Ruoff, Rodney S.; Lim, Hyunseob; In Yoon, Seong; Jeong, Hu Young; Shin, Tae Joo; Bielawski, Christopher W.; Shin, Hyeon Suk

    2017-03-01

    Various solid carbon sources, particularly poly(methyl methacrylate), have been used as precursors to graphene. The corresponding growth process generally involves the decomposition of the solids to hydrocarbon gases followed by their adsorption on metallic substrates (e.g., Cu). We report a different approach that uses a thermally-resistant polyimide (PI) as a carbon precursor. Langmuir-Blodgett films of poly(amic acid) (PAA) were transferred to copper foils and then converted to graphene via a PI intermediate. The Cu foil substrate was also discovered to facilitate the orientation of aromatic moieties upon carbonization process of the PI. As approximately 50% of the initial quantity of the PAA was found to remain at 1000 °C, thermally-stable polymers may reduce the quantity of starting material required to prepare high quality films of graphene. Graphene grown using this method featured a relatively large domain size and an absence of adventitious adlayers.

  5. Monolayer Boron Nitride Substrate Interactions with Graphene Under In-Plane and Perpendicular Strains: A First-Principles Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behzad, Somayeh

    2018-04-01

    Effects of strain on the electronic and optical properties of graphene on monolayer boron nitride (BN) substrate are investigated using first-principle calculations based on density functional theory. Strain-free graphene/BN has a small band gap of 97 meV at the K point. The magnitude of band gap increases with in-plane biaxial strain while it decreases with the perpendicular uniaxial strain. The ɛ2 (ω ) spectrum of graphene/BN bilayer for parallel polarization shows red and blue shifts by applying the in-plane tensile and compressive strains, respectively. Also the positions of peaks in the ɛ2 (ω ) spectrum are not significantly changed under perpendicular strain. The calculated results indicate that graphene on the BN substrate has great potential in microelectronic and optoelectronic applications.

  6. Evolution of the Raman spectra from single-, few-, and many-layer graphene with increasing disorder

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martins Ferreira, E. H.; Stavale, F.; Moutinho, Marcus V. O.; Lucchese, M. M.; Capaz, Rodrigo B.; Achete, C. A.; Jorio, A.

    2010-01-01

    We report on the micro-Raman spectroscopy of monolayer, bilayer, trilayer, and many layers of graphene (graphite) bombarded by low-energy argon ions with different doses. The evolution of peak frequencies, intensities, linewidths, and areas of the main Raman bands of graphene is analyzed as function of the distance between defects and number of layers. We describe the disorder-induced frequency shifts and the increase in the linewidth of the Raman bands by means of a spatial-correlation model. Also, the evolution of the relative areas A D /A G , A D ' /A G , and A G ' /A G is described by a phenomenological model. The present results can be used to fully characterize disorder in graphene systems.

  7. The effect of spin-orbit coupling in band structure of few-layer graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sahdan, Muhammad Fauzi, E-mail: sahdan89@yahoo.co.id; Darma, Yudi, E-mail: sahdan89@yahoo.co.id [Department of Physics, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132 (Indonesia)

    2014-03-24

    Topological insulators are electronic materials that have a bulk band gap like an ordinary insulator but have protected conducting states on their edge or surface. This can be happened due to spin-orbit coupling and time-reversal symmetry. Moreover, the edge current flows through their edge or surface depends on its spin orientation and also it is robust against non-magnetic impurities. Therefore, topological insulators are predicted to be useful ranging from spintronics to quantum computation. Graphene was first predicted to be the precursor of topological insulator by Kane-Mele. They developed a Hamiltonian model to describe the gap opening in graphene. In this work, we investigate the band structure of few-layer graphene by using this model with analytical approach. The results of our calculations show that the gap opening occurs at K and K’ point, not only in single layer, but also in bilayer and trilayer graphene.

  8. Two-Dimensional Graphene-Gold Interfaces Serve as Robust Templates for Dielectric Capacitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teshome, Tamiru; Datta, Ayan

    2017-10-04

    The electronic structures of novel heterostructures, namely, graphene-Au van der Waals (vdW) interfaces, have been studied using density functional theory. Dispersion-corrected PBE-D2 functionals are used to describe the phonon spectrum and binding energies. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the vdW framework is preserved till 1200 K. Beyond T = 1200 K, a transition of the quasiplanar Au into the three-dimensional cluster-like structure is observed. A dielectric capacitor is designed by placing 1-4 hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayers between graphene and Au conductive plates. Charge separation between the Au and graphene plates is carried out under the effect of an external field normal to the graphene-h-BN-Au interface. The gravimetric capacitances are computed as C 1 = 7.6 μF/g and C 2 = 3.2 μF/g for h-BN bilayers with the Au-graphene heterostructures. The capacitive behavior shows strong deviations from the classical charging models and exemplifies the importance of quantum phenomenon at short contacts, which eventually nullifies at large interelectrode distances. The graphene-Au interface is predicted to be an exciting vdW heterostructure with a potential application as a dielectric capacitor.

  9. Doping of bi-layer graphene by gradually polarizing a ferroelectric polymer

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalbáč, Martin; Kong, J.; Dresselhaus, M. S.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 250, č. 12 (2013), s. 2649-2652 ISSN 0370-1972 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LH13022; GA ČR(CZ) GAP208/12/1062 Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : doping * graphene * Raman spectroscopy Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 1.605, year: 2013

  10. A transfer technique for high mobility graphene devices on commercially available hexagonal boron nitride

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zomer, P. J.; Dash, S. P.; Tombros, N.; van Wees, B. J.

    2011-01-01

    We present electronic transport measurements of single and bilayer graphene on commercially available hexagonal boron nitride. We extract mobilities as high as 125 000 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) at room temperature and 275 000 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) at 4.2 K. The excellent quality is supported by the early

  11. MOA-2013-BLG-220Lb: Massive planetary companion to galactic-disk host

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yee, J. C.; Gould, A.; Gaudi, B. S. [Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Han, C.; Choi, J.-Y.; Hwang, K.-H.; Jung, Y. K. [Department of Physics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-763 (Korea, Republic of); Skowron, J.; Udalski, A. [Warsaw University Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa (Poland); Bond, I. A. [Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 102-904, North Shore Mail Centre, Auckland (New Zealand); Hundertmark, M. [SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9SS (United Kingdom); Monard, L. A. G. [Klein Karoo Observatory, Centre for Backyard Astrophysics, Calitzdorp (South Africa); Porritt, I. [Turitea Observatory, Palmerston North (New Zealand); Nelson, P. [Ellinbank Observatory, Ellinbank, Victoria (Australia); Bozza, V. [Dipartimento di Fisica " E. R. Caianiello," Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via S. Allende, I-84081 Baronissi (Italy); Albrow, M. D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8020 (New Zealand); Christie, G. W. [Auckland Observatory, Auckland (New Zealand); DePoy, D. L. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242 (United States); Lee, C.-U. [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedukdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); McCormick, J. [Farm Cove Observatory, Centre for Backyard Astrophysics, Pakuranga, Auckland (New Zealand); Collaboration: μFUN Collaboration),; MOA Collaboration),; OGLE Collaboration),; RoboNet Collaboration),; and others

    2014-07-20

    We report the discovery of MOA-2013-BLG-220Lb, which has a super-Jupiter mass ratio q = 3.01 ± 0.02 × 10{sup –3} relative to its host. The proper motion, μ = 12.5 ± 1 mas yr{sup –1}, is one of the highest for microlensing planets yet discovered, implying that it will be possible to separately resolve the host within ∼7 yr. Two separate lines of evidence imply that the planet and host are in the Galactic disk. The planet could have been detected and characterized purely with follow-up data, which has important implications for microlensing surveys, both current and into the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) era.

  12. Spontaneous doping on high quality talc-graphene-hBN van der Waals heterostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mania, E.; Alencar, A. B.; Cadore, A. R.; Carvalho, B. R.; Watanabe, K.; Taniguchi, T.; Neves, B. R. A.; Chacham, H.; Campos, L. C.

    2017-09-01

    Steady doping, added to its remarkable electronic properties, would make graphene a valuable commodity in the solar cell market, as energy power conversion could be substantially increased. Here we report a graphene van der Waals heterostructure which is able to spontaneously dope graphene (p-type) up to n ~ 2.2  ×  1013 cm-2 while providing excellent charge mobility (μ ~ 25 000 cm2 V-1 s-1). Such properties are achieved via deposition of graphene on atomically flat layered talc, a natural and abundant dielectric crystal. Raman investigation shows a preferential charge accumulation on graphene-talc van der Waals heterostructures, which are investigated through the electronic properties of talc/graphene/hBN heterostructure devices. These heterostructures preserve graphene’s good electronic quality, verified by the observation of quantum Hall effect at low magnetic fields (B  =  0.4 T) at T  =  4.2 K. In order to investigate the physical mechanisms behind graphene-on-talc p-type doping, we performed first-principles calculations of their interface structural and electronic properties. In addition to potentially improving solar cell efficiency, graphene doping via van der Waals stacking is also a promising route towards controlling the band gap opening in bilayer graphene, promoting a steady n or p type doping in graphene and, eventually, providing a new path to access superconducting states in graphene, predicted to exist only at very high doping.

  13. Improving Fire Resistance of Cotton Fabric through Layer-by-Layer Assembled Graphene Multilayer Nanocoating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Wonjun; Chung, Il Jun; Kim, Junwoo; Seo, Seongmin; Park, Yong Tae; Choi, Kyungwho

    2018-05-01

    In this study, thin films containing poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), stabilized with poly(4-styrene-sulfonic acid) (PSS), were assembled by a simple and cost-effective layer-by-layer (LbL) technique in order to introduce the anti-flammability to cotton. These antiflammable layers were characterized by using UV-vis spectrometry and quartz crystal microbalance as a function of the number of bilayers deposited. Scanning electron microscopy was used to visualize the morphology of the thin film coatings on the cotton fabric. The graphene-polymer thin films introduced anti-flammable properties through thermally stable carbonaceous layers at a high temperature. The thermal stability and flame retardant property of graphene-coated cotton was demonstrated by thermogravimetric analysis, cone calorimetry, and vertical flame test. The results indicate that LbL-assembled graphene-polymer thin films can be applied largely in the field of flame retardant.

  14. Influence of the graphene substrate on morphology of the gold thin film. Spectroscopic ellipsometry study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kostruba, A.M.

    2013-01-01

    In metal optics gold assumes a special status because of its practical importance in optoelectronic and nanooptical devices, and its role huge increases when occurs combination of gold with two-dimension materials. We performed spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements on evaporated gold, and gold–graphene nanostructures to determine the optical dielectric function across a broad spectral range from 250 to 1000 nm. It was found that the deposition of gold film on the quartz substrate covered by graphene flake leads to significant changes in structural and dielectric properties of thin gold layer. Such changes can be explained by increasing of the gold cluster size. The model fit of the ellipsometric data demonstrates that the bilayergraphene-gold” nanostructure can be described as a uniform optically homogeneous layer with modified optical properties. We can suggest that graphene flake creates a matrix for epitaxial alignment of the crystalline structure of the gold film during its growing. Effective doping of the graphene by free electrons of the gold clusters tends to decrease the optical contrast at the graphene-gold interface.

  15. Hydrophobic silver nanoparticles trapped in lipid bilayers: Size distribution, bilayer phase behavior, and optical properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bothun Geoffrey D

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Lipid-based dispersion of nanoparticles provides a biologically inspired route to designing therapeutic agents and a means of reducing nanoparticle toxicity. Little is currently known on how the presence of nanoparticles influences lipid vesicle stability and bilayer phase behavior. In this work, the formation of aqueous lipid/nanoparticle assemblies (LNAs consisting of hydrophobic silver-decanethiol particles (5.7 ± 1.8 nm embedded within 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC bilayers is demonstrated as a function of the DPPC/Ag nanoparticle (AgNP ratio. The effect of nanoparticle loading on the size distribution, bilayer phase behavior, and bilayer fluidity is determined. Concomitantly, the effect of bilayer incorporation on the optical properties of the AgNPs is also examined. Results The dispersions were stable at 50°C where the bilayers existed in a liquid crystalline state, but phase separated at 25°C where the bilayers were in a gel state, consistent with vesicle aggregation below the lipid melting temperature. Formation of bilayer-embedded nanoparticles was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry and fluorescence anisotropy, where increasing nanoparticle concentration suppressed the lipid pretransition temperature, reduced the melting temperature, and disrupted gel phase bilayers. The characteristic surface plasmon resonance (SPR wavelength of the embedded nanoparticles was independent of the bilayer phase; however, the SPR absorbance was dependent on vesicle aggregation. Conclusion These results suggest that lipid bilayers can distort to accommodate large hydrophobic nanoparticles, relative to the thickness of the bilayer, and may provide insight into nanoparticle/biomembrane interactions and the design of multifunctional liposomal carriers.

  16. Lipid bilayers and interfaces

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kik, R.A.

    2007-01-01

    In biological systems lipid bilayers are subject to many different interactions with other entities. These can range from proteins that are attached to the hydrophilic region of the bilayer or transmembrane proteins that interact with the hydrophobic region of the lipid bilayer. Interaction between

  17. Self-folding mechanics of graphene tearing and peeling from a substrate

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Ze-Zhou; Zhu, Yin-Bo; Wu, Heng-An

    2018-06-01

    Understanding the underlying mechanism in the tearing and peeling processes of graphene is crucial for the further hierarchical design of origami-like folding and kirigami-like cutting of graphene. However, the complex effects among bending moduli, adhesion, interlayer interaction, and local crystal structure during origami-like folding and kirigami-like cutting remain unclear, resulting in challenges to the practical applications of existing theoretical and experimental findings as well as to potential manipulations of graphene in metamaterials and nanodevices. Toward this end, classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed with synergetic theoretical analysis to explore the tearing and peeling of self-folded graphene from a substrate driven by external force and by thermal activation. It is found that the elastic energy localized at the small folding ridge plays a significant role in the crack trajectory. Due to the extremely small bending modulus of monolayer graphene, its taper angle when pulled by an external force follows a scaling law distinct from that in case of bilayer graphene. With the increase in the initial width of the folding ridge, the self-folded graphene, motivated by thermal fluctuations, can be self-assembled by spontaneous self-tearing and peeling from a substrate. Simultaneously, the scaling law between the taper angle and adhesive energy is independent of the motivations for thermal activation-induced self-assembly and external force tearing, providing effective insights into the underlying physics for graphene-based origami-like folding and kirigami-like cutting.

  18. Graphene: from functionalization to devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tejeda, Antonio; Soukiassian, Patrick G.

    2014-03-01

    The year 2014 marks the first decade of the rise of graphene. Graphene, a single atomic layer of carbon atoms in sp2 bonding configuration having a honeycomb structure, has now become a well-known and well-established material. Among some of its many outstanding fundamental properties, one can mention a very high carrier mobility, a very large spin diffusion length, unsurpassed mechanical properties as graphene is the strongest material ever measured and an exceptional thermal conductivity scaling more than one order of magnitude above that of copper. After the first years of the graphene rush, graphene growth is now well controlled using various methods like epitaxial growth on silicon carbide substrate, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) or plasma techniques on metal, insulator or semiconductor substrates. More applied research is now taking over the initial studies on graphene production. Indeed, graphene is a promising material for many advanced applications such as, but not limited to, electronic, spintronics, sensors, photonics, micro/nano-electromechanical (MEMS/NEMS) systems, super-capacitors or touch-screen technologies. In this context, this Special Issue of the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics on graphene reviews some of the recent achievements, progress and prospects in this field. It includes a collection of seventeen invited articles covering the current status and future prospects of some selected topics of strong current interest. This Special Issue is organized in four sections. The first section is dedicated to graphene devices, and opens with an article by de Heer et al on an investigation of integrating graphene devices with silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Then, a study by Svintsov et al proposes a lateral all-graphene tunnel field-effect transistor (FET) with a high on/off current switching ratio. Next, Tsukagoshi et al present how a band-gap opening occurs in a graphene bilayer by using a perpendicular

  19. Graphene: powder, flakes, ribbons, and sheets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, Dustin K; Tour, James M

    2013-10-15

    fibers and in the fabrication of large area transparent electrodes. Using solid carbon sources such as polymers, food, insects, and waste, we can grow monolayer and bilayer graphene directly on metal catalysts, and carbon-sources containing nitrogen can produce nitrogen-doped graphene. The resulting graphene can be transferred to other surfaces, such as metal grids, for potential use in transparent touch screens for applications in personal electronics and large area photovoltaic devices. Because the transfer of graphene from one surface to another can lead to defects, low yields, and higher costs, we have developed methods for growing graphene directly on the substrates of interest. We can also produce patterned graphene to make GNRs or graphane/graphene superlattices within a single sheet. These superlattices could have multiple functions for use in sensors and other devices. This Account only touches upon this burgeoning area of materials chemistry, and the field will continue to expand as researchers imagine new forms and applications of graphene.

  20. Electronic properties of graphene nano-flakes: energy gap, permanent dipole, termination effect, and Raman spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Sandeep Kumar; Neek-Amal, M; Peeters, F M

    2014-02-21

    The electronic properties of graphene nano-flakes (GNFs) with different edge passivation are investigated by using density functional theory. Passivation with F and H atoms is considered: C(N(c)) X(N(x)) (X = F or H). We studied GNFs with 10 GNFs and enhance the electric polarization, (iii) the mutual interaction of bilayer GNFs can be understood by dipole-dipole interaction which were found sensitive to the relative orientation of the GNFs, (iv) the permanent dipoles depend on the edge terminated atom, while the energy gap is independent of it, and (v) the presence of heptagon and pentagon defects in the GNFs results in the largest difference between the energy of the spin-up and spin-down electrons which is larger for the H-passivated GNFs as compared to F-passivated GNFs. Our study shows clearly the effect of geometry, size, termination, and bilayer on the electronic properties of small GNFs. This study reveals important features of graphene nano-flakes which can be detected using Raman spectroscopy.

  1. The magneto-optical properties of non-uniform graphene nanoribbons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Hsien-Ching; Lin, Ming-Fa

    2015-03-01

    When synthesizing few-layer graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), non-uniform GNRs would be made simultaneously. Recently, the non-uniform GNRs, which is a stack of two GNRs with unequal widths, have been fabricated by mechanically exfoliated from bulk graphite. Some theoretical predictions have been reported, such as gap opening and transport properties. Under the influence of magnetic fields, magnetic quantization takes place and drastically changes the electronic properties. By tuning the geometric configuration, four categories of magneto-electronic spectra are exhibited. (1) The spectrum is mostly contributed by quasi-Landau levels (QLLs) of monolayer GNRs. (2) The spectrum displays two groups of QLLs, and the non-uniform GNR behaves like a bilayer one. (3) An intermediate category, the spectrum is composite disordered. (4) The spectrum presents the coexistence of monolayer and bilayer spectra. In this work, the magneto-electronic and optical properties for different geometric configurations are given, such as energy dispersions, density of states, wave functions, and magneto-absorption spectra are presented. Furthermore, the transformation between monolayer and bilayer spectra as well as the coexistence of monolayer and bilayer spectra are discussed in detail. One of us (Hsien-Ching Chung) thanks Ming-Hui Chung and Su-Ming Chen for financial support. This work was supported in part by the National Science Council of Taiwan under Grant Number 98-2112-M-006-013-MY4.

  2. Charge-carrier transport in large-area epitaxial graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kisslinger, Ferdinand; Popp, Matthias; Weber, Heiko B. [Lehrstuhl fuer Angewandte Physik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg (FAU), Erlangen (Germany); Jobst, Johannes [Huygens-Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium, Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden University (Netherlands); Shallcross, Sam [Lehrstuhl fuer theoretische Festkoerperphysik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg (FAU), Erlangen (Germany)

    2017-11-15

    We present an overview of recent charge carrier transport experiments in both monolayer and bilayer graphene, with emphasis on the phenomena that appear in large-area samples. While many aspects of transport are based on quantum mechanical concepts, in the large-area limit classical corrections dominate and shape the magnetoresistance and the tunneling conductance. The discussed phenomena are very general and can, with little modification, be expected in any atomically thin 2D conductor. (copyright 2017 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  3. Metallization and stiffness of the Li-intercalated MoS{sub 2} bilayer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Petrova, N.V. [Institute of Physics of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Prospect Nauki 46, Kiev 03028 (Ukraine); Yakovkin, I.N., E-mail: yakov@iop.kiev.ua [Institute of Physics of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Prospect Nauki 46, Kiev 03028 (Ukraine); Zeze, D.A. [School of Engineering & Computing Sciences, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

    2015-10-30

    Graphical abstract: The band structures, DOS, and Fermi surfaces for the MoS{sub 2} bilayer with adsorbed (a, c, e) and intercalated (b, d, f) Li (1 × 1) layer. - Highlights: • Adsorbed or intercalated Li monolayer makes the MoS{sub 2} surface metallic. • Increasing density of adsorbed Li leads to the nonmetal-to-metal transition in the layer. • Lithium inserted into MoS{sub 2} bilayers increases the interlayer interaction. - Abstract: Performed density-functional theory (DFT) calculations have shown that the Li adsorption on the MoS{sub 2} (0 0 0 1) surface, as well as Li intercalation into the space between MoS{sub 2} layers, transforms the semiconductor band structure of MoS{sub 2} into metallic. For the (√3 × √3) – R30° Li layer, the band structures of the MoS{sub 2} bilayer with adsorbed and intercalated Li are very similar, while for higher Li concentrations, the character of metallization for the adsorbed layer substantially differs from that of the MoS{sub 2}–Li–MoS{sub 2} layered system. In particular, for the adsorbed (1 × 1) Li monolayer, the increased density of the layer leads to the nonmetal-to-metal transition, which is evident from the appearance of the band crossing E{sub F} with an upward dispersion, pertinent to simple metals. It has been demonstrated that intercalated Li substantially increases the interlayer interaction in MoS{sub 2}. Specifically, the estimated 0.12 eV energy of the interlayer interaction in the MoS{sub 2} bilayer increases to 0.60 eV. This result is also consistent with results of earlier DFT calculations and available experimental results for alkali-intercalated graphene layers, which have demonstrated a substantial increase in the stiffness due to intercalation of alkalis.

  4. Faint-Source-Star Planetary Microlensing: The Discovery of the Cold Gas-Giant Planet OGLE-2014-BLG-0676Lb

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rattenbury, N. J.; Bennett, D. P.; Sumi, T.; Koshimoto, N.; Bond, I. A.; Udalski, A.; Shvartzvald, Y.; Maoz, D.; Jorgensen, U. G.; Barry, R.; hide

    2016-01-01

    We report the discovery of a planet OGLE-2014-BLG-0676Lb via gravitational microlensing. Observations for the lensing event were made by the following groups: Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics; Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment; Wise Observatory; RoboNETLas Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope; Microlensing Network for the Detection of Small Terrestrial Exoplanets; and -FUN. All analyses of the light-curve data favoura lens system comprising a planetary mass orbiting a host star. The most-favoured binary lens model has a mass ratio between the two lens masses of (4.78 +/- 0.13) 10(exp -3). Subject to some important assumptions, a Bayesian probability density analysis suggests the lens system comprises a 3.09(+1.02/-1.12) MJ planet orbiting a 0.62(+0.20/-0.22) solar mass host star at a deprojected orbital separation of 4.40(+2.16/-1.46) au. The distance to the lens system is 2.22(+0.96/-0.83) kpc. Planet OGLE-2014-BLG-0676Lb provides additional data to the growing number of cool planets discover redusing gravitational microlensing against which planetary formation theories may be tested. Most of the light in the baseline of this event is expected to come from the lens and thus high-resolution imaging observations could confirm our planetary model interpretation.

  5. PEGylated lipid bilayer-wrapped nano-graphene oxides for synergistic co-delivery of doxorubicin and rapamycin to prevent drug resistance in cancers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thapa, Raj Kumar; Byeon, Jeong Hoon; Choi, Han-Gon; Yong, Chul Soon; Kim, Jong Oh

    2017-07-01

    Nano-graphene oxide (nGO) is a carbon allotrope studied for its potential as carrier for chemotherapeutic delivery and its photoablation effects. However, interaction of nGO with blood components and the subsequent toxicities warrant a hybrid system for effective cancer drug delivery. Combination chemotherapy aids in effective cancer treatment and prevention of drug resistance. Therefore, in this study, we attempted to prepare polyethylene glycosylated (PEGylated) lipid bilayer-wrapped nGO co-loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) and rapamycin (RAPA), GOLDR, for the prevention and treatment of resistant cancers. Our results revealed a stable GOLDR formulation with appropriate particle size (∼170 nm), polydispersity (∼0.19) and drug loading. Free drug combination (DOX and RAPA) presented synergistic anticancer effects in MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and BT474 cells. Treatment with GOLDR formulation maintained this synergism in treated cancer cells, which was further enhanced by the near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation-induced photothermal effects of nGO. Higher chromatin condensation and apoptotic body formation, and enhanced protein expression of apoptosis-related markers (Bax, p53, p21, and c-caspase 3) following GOLDR treatment in the presence of NIR laser treatment clearly suggests its superiority in effective chemo-photothermal therapy of resistant cancers. The hybrid nanosystem that we developed provides a basis for the effective use of GOLDR treatment in the prevention and treatment of resistant cancer types.

  6. Temperature-induced strain and doping in monolayer and bilayer isotopically labeled graphene

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Verhagen, Timotheus; Drogowska, Karolina; Kalbáč, Martin; Vejpravová, Jana

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 92, č. 12 (2015), "125437-1"-"125437-9" ISSN 1098-0121 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-02196S; GA MŠk LL1301 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 ; RVO:61388955 Keywords : isotopically labeled graphene * temperature dependence * Raman spectroscopy * phonons Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 3.736, year: 2014

  7. Selfenergy effect on the magnetic ordering transition in the mono- and bilayer honeycomb Hubbard model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Honerkamp, Carsten [Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics, RWTH Aachen University (Germany); JARA - Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, Aachen (Germany)

    2017-11-15

    We investigate the impact of electron self-energy corrections on potential antiferromagnetic ordering instabilities in mono- and bilayer graphene, modeled by a Hubbard-type lattice model with onsite interactions among the electrons, using a self-consistent random phase approximation (RPA). In qualitative agreement with earlier studies we find that the electronic interactions cause non-Fermi liquid behavior at low energies. In self-consistent RPA, the transition scales for antiferromagnetic ordering are renormalized significantly by these self-energy effects, both for interaction-driven and temperature-driven cases. (copyright 2017 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  8. Towards inducing superconductivity into graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Efetov, Dmitri K.

    dependent effective Debey temperature - the so-called Bloch-Gruneisen temperature theta BG. We also probe the transport properties of the high energy sub-bands in bilayer graphene by electrolyte gating. Furthermore we demonstrate that electrolyte gates can be used to drive intercalation reactions in graphite and present an all optical study of the reaction kinetics during the creation of the graphene derived graphite intercalation compound LiC 6, and show the general applicability of the electrolyte gates to other 2-dimensional materials such as thin films of complex oxides, where we demonstrate gating dependent conductance changes in the spin-orbit Mott insulator Sr 2IrO4. Another, entirely different approach to induce superconducting correlations into graphene is by bringing it into proximity to a superconductor. Although not intrinsic to graphene, Cooper pairs can leak in from the superconductor and exist in graphene in the form of phase-coherent electron-hole states, the so-called Andreev states. Here we demonstrate a new way of fabricating highly transparent graphene/superconductor junctions by vertical stacking of graphene and the type-II van der Waals superconductor NbSe2. Due to NbSe2's high upper critical field of Hc2=4T we are able to test a long proposed and yet not well understood regime, where proximity effect and quantum Hall effect coexist.

  9. Anomalous low-temperature Coulomb drag in graphene-GaAs heterostructures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gamucci, A; Spirito, D; Carrega, M; Karmakar, B; Lombardo, A; Bruna, M; Pfeiffer, L N; West, K W; Ferrari, A C; Polini, M; Pellegrini, V

    2014-12-19

    Vertical heterostructures combining different layered materials offer novel opportunities for applications and fundamental studies. Here we report a new class of heterostructures comprising a single-layer (or bilayer) graphene in close proximity to a quantum well created in GaAs and supporting a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas. In our devices, graphene is naturally hole-doped, thereby allowing for the investigation of electron-hole interactions. We focus on the Coulomb drag transport measurements, which are sensitive to many-body effects, and find that the Coulomb drag resistivity significantly increases for temperatures law, therefore displaying a notable departure from the ordinary quadratic temperature dependence expected in a weakly correlated Fermi-liquid. This anomalous behaviour is consistent with the onset of strong interlayer correlations. Our heterostructures represent a new platform for the creation of coherent circuits and topologically protected quantum bits.

  10. Doping characteristics of iodine on as-grown chemical vapor deposited graphene on Pt

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, HoKwon, E-mail: hknano@gmail.com [Université Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble (France); CEA, LETI, MINATEC Campus, 17 rue des Martyrs, F-38054 Grenoble (France); Renault, Olivier [Université Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble (France); CEA, LETI, MINATEC Campus, 17 rue des Martyrs, F-38054 Grenoble (France); Tyurnina, Anastasia; Guillet, Jean-François; Simonato, Jean-Pierre [Université Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble (France); CEA, LITEN/DTMN, F-38054 Grenoble (France); Rouchon, Denis; Mariolle, Denis; Chevalier, Nicolas [Université Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble (France); CEA, LETI, MINATEC Campus, 17 rue des Martyrs, F-38054 Grenoble (France); Dijon, Jean [Université Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble (France); CEA, LITEN/DTMN, F-38054 Grenoble (France)

    2015-12-15

    Using laboratory X-ray photoelectron emission microscopy (XPEEM), we investigated the doping efficiency and thermal stability of iodine on as-grown graphene on Pt. After iodine adsorption of graphene in saturated vapor of I{sub 2,} monolayer and bilayer graphene exhibited work function of 4.93 eV and 4.87 eV, respectively. Annealing of the doped monolayer graphene at 100 °C led to desorption of hydrocarbons, which increased the work function of monolayer graphene by ~0.2 eV. The composition of the polyiodide complexes evolved upon a step-by-step annealing at temperatures from 100 °C to 300 °C while the work-function non-monotonically changed with decreasing iodine content. The iodine dopant was stable at relatively high temperature as a significant amount of iodine remained up to the annealing temperature of 350 °C. - Highlights: • Laboratory XPEEM demonstrates that iodine can effectively p-dope as-grown graphene on Pt with a work-function value up to 5.1 eV. • On the other hand, residual hydrocarbon contamination decreases the work function by up to ~0.2 eV. • The spontaneous intercalation of as-grown few-layered graphene is not easily feasible. • The iodine dopant was not completely removed up to the annealing temperature of 350 °C. • The I{sub 3}{sup −} and I{sub 5}{sup −} polyiodide content ratio of I-doped Gr/Pt decreases with annealing temperature.

  11. Valley-symmetric quasi-1D transport in ballistic graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hu-Jong

    We present our recent studies on gate-defined valley-symmetric one-dimensional (1D) carrier guiding in ballistic monolayer graphene and valley-symmetry-protected topological 1D transport in ballistic bilayer graphene. Successful carrier guiding was realized in ballistic monolayer graphene even in the absence of a band gap by inducing a high distinction ( more than two orders of magnitude) in the carrier density between the region of a quasi-1D channel and the rest of the top-gated regions. Conductance of a channel shows quantized values in units of 4e2/ h, suggesting that the valley symmetry is preserved. For the latter, the topological 1D conduction was realized between two closely arranged insulating regions with inverted band gaps, induced under a pair of split dual gating with polarities opposite to each other. The maximum conductance along the boundary channel showed 4e2/ h, again with the preserved valley symmetry. The 1D topological carrier guiding demonstrated in this study affords a promising route to robust valleytronic applications and sophisticated valley-associated functionalities based on 2D materials. This work was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea.

  12. Semiclassics for matrix Hamiltonians: The Gutzwiller trace formula with applications to graphene-type systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogl, M.; Pankratov, O.; Shallcross, S.

    2017-07-01

    We present a tractable and physically transparent semiclassical theory of matrix-valued Hamiltonians, i.e., those that describe quantum systems with internal degrees of freedoms, based on a generalization of the Gutzwiller trace formula for a n ×n dimensional Hamiltonian H (p ̂,q ̂) . The classical dynamics is governed by n Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equations that act in a phase space endowed with a classical Berry curvature encoding anholonomy in the parallel transport of the eigenvectors of H (p ,q ) ; these vectors describe the internal structure of the semiclassical particles. At the O (ℏ1) level and for nondegenerate HJ systems, this curvature results in an additional semiclassical phase composed of (i) a Berry phase and (ii) a dynamical phase resulting from the classical particles "moving through the Berry curvature". We show that the dynamical part of this semiclassical phase will, generally, be zero only for the case in which the Berry phase is topological (i.e., depends only on the winding number). We illustrate the method by calculating the Landau spectrum for monolayer graphene, the four-band model of AB bilayer graphene, and for a more complicated matrix Hamiltonian describing the silicene band structure. Finally, we apply our method to an inhomogeneous system consisting of a strain engineered one-dimensional moiré in bilayer graphene, finding localized states near the Dirac point that arise from electron trapping in a semiclassical moiré potential. The semiclassical density of states of these localized states we show to be in perfect agreement with an exact quantum mechanical calculation of the density of states.

  13. Scanning electrochemical microscopy of graphene/polymer hybrid thin films as supercapacitors: Physical-chemical interfacial processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanju Gupta

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Hybrid electrode comprising an electric double-layer capacitor of graphene nanosheets and a pseudocapacitor of the electrically conducting polymers namely, polyaniline; PAni and polypyrrole; PPy are constructed that exhibited synergistic effect with excellent electrochemical performance as thin film supercapacitors for alternative energy. The hybrid supercapacitors were prepared by layer-by-layer (LbL assembly based on controlled electrochemical polymerization followed by reduction of graphene oxide electrochemically producing ErGO, for establishing intimate electronic contact through nanoscale architecture and chemical stability, producing a single bilayer of (PAni/ErGO1, (PPy/ErGO1, (PAni/GO1 and (PPy/GO1. The rationale design is to create thin films that possess interconnected graphene nanosheets (GNS with polymer nanostructures forming well-defined tailored interfaces allowing sufficient surface adsorption and faster ion transport due to short diffusion distances. We investigated their electrochemical properties and performance in terms of gravimetric specific capacitance, Cs, from cyclic voltammograms. The LbL-assembled bilayer films exhibited an excellent Cs of ≥350 F g−1 as compared with constituents (∼70 F g−1 at discharge current density of 0.3 A g−1 that outperformed many other hybrid supercapacitors. To gain deeper insights into the physical-chemical interfacial processes occurring at the electrode/electrolyte interface that govern their operation, we have used scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM technique in feedback and probe approach modes. We present our findings from viewpoint of reinforcing the role played by heterogeneous electrode surface composed of nanoscale graphene sheets (conducting and conducting polymers (semiconducting backbone with ordered polymer chains via higher/lower probe current distribution maps. Also targeted is SECM imaging that allowed to determine electrochemical (reactivity of surface ion

  14. Scanning electrochemical microscopy of graphene/polymer hybrid thin films as supercapacitors: Physical-chemical interfacial processes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gupta, Sanju, E-mail: sanju.gupta@wku.edu; Price, Carson [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Western Kentucky University, 1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, KY 42101-3576 (United States)

    2015-10-15

    Hybrid electrode comprising an electric double-layer capacitor of graphene nanosheets and a pseudocapacitor of the electrically conducting polymers namely, polyaniline; PAni and polypyrrole; PPy are constructed that exhibited synergistic effect with excellent electrochemical performance as thin film supercapacitors for alternative energy. The hybrid supercapacitors were prepared by layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly based on controlled electrochemical polymerization followed by reduction of graphene oxide electrochemically producing ErGO, for establishing intimate electronic contact through nanoscale architecture and chemical stability, producing a single bilayer of (PAni/ErGO){sub 1}, (PPy/ErGO){sub 1}, (PAni/GO){sub 1} and (PPy/GO){sub 1}. The rationale design is to create thin films that possess interconnected graphene nanosheets (GNS) with polymer nanostructures forming well-defined tailored interfaces allowing sufficient surface adsorption and faster ion transport due to short diffusion distances. We investigated their electrochemical properties and performance in terms of gravimetric specific capacitance, C{sub s}, from cyclic voltammograms. The LbL-assembled bilayer films exhibited an excellent C{sub s} of ≥350 F g{sup −1} as compared with constituents (∼70 F g{sup −1}) at discharge current density of 0.3 A g{sup −1} that outperformed many other hybrid supercapacitors. To gain deeper insights into the physical-chemical interfacial processes occurring at the electrode/electrolyte interface that govern their operation, we have used scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) technique in feedback and probe approach modes. We present our findings from viewpoint of reinforcing the role played by heterogeneous electrode surface composed of nanoscale graphene sheets (conducting) and conducting polymers (semiconducting) backbone with ordered polymer chains via higher/lower probe current distribution maps. Also targeted is SECM imaging that allowed to determine

  15. Scanning electrochemical microscopy of graphene/polymer hybrid thin films as supercapacitors: Physical-chemical interfacial processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Sanju; Price, Carson

    2015-10-01

    Hybrid electrode comprising an electric double-layer capacitor of graphene nanosheets and a pseudocapacitor of the electrically conducting polymers namely, polyaniline; PAni and polypyrrole; PPy are constructed that exhibited synergistic effect with excellent electrochemical performance as thin film supercapacitors for alternative energy. The hybrid supercapacitors were prepared by layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly based on controlled electrochemical polymerization followed by reduction of graphene oxide electrochemically producing ErGO, for establishing intimate electronic contact through nanoscale architecture and chemical stability, producing a single bilayer of (PAni/ErGO)1, (PPy/ErGO)1, (PAni/GO)1 and (PPy/GO)1. The rationale design is to create thin films that possess interconnected graphene nanosheets (GNS) with polymer nanostructures forming well-defined tailored interfaces allowing sufficient surface adsorption and faster ion transport due to short diffusion distances. We investigated their electrochemical properties and performance in terms of gravimetric specific capacitance, Cs, from cyclic voltammograms. The LbL-assembled bilayer films exhibited an excellent Cs of ≥350 F g-1 as compared with constituents (˜70 F g-1) at discharge current density of 0.3 A g-1 that outperformed many other hybrid supercapacitors. To gain deeper insights into the physical-chemical interfacial processes occurring at the electrode/electrolyte interface that govern their operation, we have used scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) technique in feedback and probe approach modes. We present our findings from viewpoint of reinforcing the role played by heterogeneous electrode surface composed of nanoscale graphene sheets (conducting) and conducting polymers (semiconducting) backbone with ordered polymer chains via higher/lower probe current distribution maps. Also targeted is SECM imaging that allowed to determine electrochemical (re)activity of surface ion adsorption sites

  16. Alcohol's Effects on Lipid Bilayer Properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ingólfsson, Helgi I.; Andersen, Olaf S.

    2011-01-01

    Alcohols are known modulators of lipid bilayer properties. Their biological effects have long been attributed to their bilayer-modifying effects, but alcohols can also alter protein function through direct protein interactions. This raises the question: Do alcohol's biological actions result predominantly from direct protein-alcohol interactions or from general changes in the membrane properties? The efficacy of alcohols of various chain lengths tends to exhibit a so-called cutoff effect (i.e., increasing potency with increased chain length, which that eventually levels off). The cutoff varies depending on the assay, and numerous mechanisms have been proposed such as: limited size of the alcohol-protein interaction site, limited alcohol solubility, and a chain-length-dependent lipid bilayer-alcohol interaction. To address these issues, we determined the bilayer-modifying potency of 27 aliphatic alcohols using a gramicidin-based fluorescence assay. All of the alcohols tested (with chain lengths of 1–16 carbons) alter the bilayer properties, as sensed by a bilayer-spanning channel. The bilayer-modifying potency of the short-chain alcohols scales linearly with their bilayer partitioning; the potency tapers off at higher chain lengths, and eventually changes sign for the longest-chain alcohols, demonstrating an alcohol cutoff effect in a system that has no alcohol-binding pocket. PMID:21843475

  17. Enxerto bovino liofilizado: comportamento histológico após seguimento de 49 meses em seres humanos Bovine lyophilized graft (BLG: histological analysis on behavior in humans after 49 months

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Roberto Galia

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Analisar o comportamento histológico do ELB, produzido conforme protocolo desenvolvido pelo autor principal, em seres humanos no decorrer de 49 meses através da aferição da proporção enxerto/osso neoformado em relação ao total de área mineralizada. MÉTODOS: Série de casos com 12 pacientes, oito femininos (66% e quatro masculinos (34%, totalizando 13 biópsias, nos quais utilizou-se ELB e que posteriormente houve necessidade de reintervenção cirúrgica, no período de 2000 a 2011. As lâminas produzidas, coradas com hematoxilina-eosina (HE, foram analisadas por patologista e digitalizadas para a avaliação proposta. RESULTADOS: A média etária foi de 57 anos e o tempo médio de seguimento de 49 meses (6-115. A proporção média de ELB foi de 42% (13-85 e de osso neoformado de 58% (15-87 em relação ao total de área mineralizada. CONCLUSÕES: O presente estudo demonstra que o ELB utilizado apresenta característica osteocondutora e biocompatibilidade. O ELB apresentado é opção terapêutica a ser utilizada em cirurgias ortopédicas que necessitem preenchimento de deficiências ósseas.OBJECTIVE: To analyze the histological behavior of bovine lyophilized grafts (BLG produced according to a protocol developed by the first author, in humans over a 49-month period by measuring the graft/bone neoformation ratio in relation to the total mineralized area. METHODS: This was a case series involving 12 patients: eight females (66% and four males (34%, totaling 13 biopsies. BLG was used, and surgical reintervention was subsequently required during the period 2000 to 2011. The slides produced were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE, were analyzed by a pathologist and were digitized for the proposed evaluation. RESULTS: The mean age was 57 years and the mean follow-up was 49 months (range: 6-115. The average proportion of BLG was 42% range: 13-85 and neoformed bone, 58% (range: 15-87 in relation to the total area mineralized

  18. Poly(methyl methacrylate) as a self-assembled gate dielectric for graphene field-effect transistors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanne, A.; Movva, H. C. P.; Kang, S.; McClellan, C.; Corbet, C. M.; Banerjee, S. K. [Microelectronics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78758 (United States)

    2014-02-24

    We investigate poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a low thermal budget organic gate dielectric for graphene field effect-transistors (GFETs) based on a simple process flow. We show that high temperature baking steps above the glass transition temperature (∼130 °C) can leave a self-assembled, thin PMMA film on graphene, where we get a gate dielectric almost for “free” without additional atomic layer deposition type steps. Electrical characterization of GFETs with PMMA as a gate dielectric yields a dielectric constant of k = 3.0. GFETs with thinner PMMA dielectrics have a lower dielectric constant due to decreased polarization arising from neutralization of dipoles and charged carriers as baking temperatures increase. The leakage through PMMA gate dielectric increases with decreasing dielectric thickness and increasing electric field. Unlike conventional high-k gate dielectrics, such low-k organic gate dielectrics are potentially attractive for devices such as the proposed Bilayer pseudoSpin Field-Effect Transistor or flexible high speed graphene electronics.

  19. Charge and Spin Transport in Graphene Heterostructures and Cr2Ge2Te6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Zhisheng

    . Furthermore, we observe a reduction of the band gap of CGT by approximately 0.066 eV once the applied pressure reaches 2 GPa. We verify that the magnetoresistance (MR) change originates from anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) by measuring the temperature dependence of MR below and above Curie temperature (TC) under the different applied pressures. The last part is focused on the proximity effects in bilayer graphene/WSe2 heterostructures and the pressure induced insulating behavior. The enhancement of spin- orbit coupling is verified by observing the weak-anti localization for the graphene region covered with WSe2 but the weak localization (WL) for the uncovered region. The Rashba SOC strength value extracted from the weak-antilocalization (WAL) fitting is about 1 meV while the intrinsic SOC in graphene is about tens of microeV. It increases by more than two orders of magnitude. Graphene covered with WSe2 shows a strong insulating behavior by applying pressure and the insulating behavior is stronger under higher pressure, which is a signature of a band gap opening. Two hypotheses to explain the insulating behavior are discussed. One is the strain induced work function difference in top layer and bottom layer; this difference causes the charge transfer and builds up an electric field, generating the band gap. The other hypothesis is the proximity induced intrinsic electric field built across the bilayer graphene/WSe2 heterostructure, resulting in the breaking of inversion symmetry.

  20. Two-dimensional carbon crystals. Electrical transport in single- and double-layer graphene; Zweidimensionale Kohlenstoffkristalle. Elektrischer Transport in Einzel- und Doppellagen-Graphen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schmidt, Hennrik

    2012-02-03

    In his work atomically thin layers of carbon, socalled graphene, are investigated. These systems exhibit outstanding electronic properties which are analysed using magnetotransport measurements. For this purpose, different types of samples are prepared, analysed and discussed. In addition to conventional single layer and single crystal bilayer systems, folded flakes with twisted planes are examined. Since monolayer graphene is a two dimensional crystal in which every atom sits at the surface, it is very sensitive to any type of perturbation. Three different cases are investigated: Firstly, dopants are removed from the surface and the change in transport properties is monitored. Secondly, the regime of small carrier concentrations is used to observe field induced recharging of inhomogeneities. Thirdly, an atomic force microscope is used to alter the graphene itself in a defined region. The implications of this modification are again investigated using magnetotransport measurements. The influence of one layer on another one is studied in decoupled two layer samples. A folded sample with separatly contacted layers is used to show transport through the folded region. For jointly contacted layers parallel transport measurements are performed to analyse screening effects of an applied electric field and substrate influence. The interaction of the two layers is shown by a significant reduction of the Fermivelocity.

  1. Tunnel and electrostatic coupling in graphene-LaAlO3/SrTiO3 hybrid systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Aliaj

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available We report on the transport properties of hybrid devices obtained by depositing graphene on a LaAlO3/SrTiO3 oxide junction hosting a 4 nm-deep 2-dimensional electron system. At low graphene-oxide inter-layer bias, the two electron systems are electrically isolated, despite their small spatial separation. A very efficient reciprocal gating of the two neighboring 2-dimensional systems is shown. A pronounced rectifying behavior is observed for larger bias values and ascribed to the interplay between electrostatic field-effects and tunneling across the LaAlO3 barrier. The relevance of these results in the context of strongly coupled bilayer systems is discussed.

  2. Dispersion of fullerenes in phospholipid bilayers and the subsequent phase changes in the host bilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeng, U-S. [National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu 30077, Taiwan (China)]. E-mail: usjeng@nsrrc.org.tw; Hsu, C.-H. [National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu 30077, Taiwan (China); Lin, T.-L. [Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China); Wu, C.-M. [Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China); Chen, H.-L. [Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China); Tai, L.-A. [Department of Chemistry, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China); Hwang, K.-C. [Department of Chemistry, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China)

    2005-02-28

    We have studied the structure and phase transition characteristics of the fullerenes (C{sub 60})-embedded lipid bilayers. With small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), we have observed a degradation of bilayer ordering and a suppression effect on the phase transitions of the host vesicle bilayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), due to the embedment of fullerenes. The fullerene-embedded lipid system with substrate-oriented bilayers is also investigated using X-ray reflectivity and grazing incident small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). In the depth direction, the multilamellar peaks observed in the X-ray reflectivity profile for the oriented DPPC/C{sub 60} bilayers reveal a larger head-to-head distance D{sub HH} of 50.6 A and a bilayer spacing D of 59.8 A, compared to the D{sub HH}=47.7 A and D=59.5 A for a pure DPPC membrane measured at the same conditions. Furthermore, the lipid head layers and water layers in the extracted electron density profile for the complex system are highly smeared, implying a fluctuating or corrugated structure in this zone. Correspondingly, GISAXS for the oriented DPPC/C{sub 60} membrane reveals stronger diffuse scatterings along the membrane plane than that for the pure DPPC system, indicating a higher in-plane correlation associated with the embedded fullerenes.

  3. Transfer of Graphene Layers Grown on SiC Wafers to Other Substrates and Their Integration into Field Effect Transistors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unarunotai, Sakulsuk; Murata, Yuya; Chialvo, Cesar; Kim, Hoon-Sik; MacLaren, Scott; Mason, Nadya; Petrov, Ivan; Rogers, John

    2010-03-01

    An approach to produce graphene films by epitaxial growth on silicon carbide substrate is promising, but its current implementation requires the use of SiC as the device substrate. We present a simple method for transferring epitaxial sheets of graphene on SiC to other substrates. The graphene was grown on the (0001) face of 6H-SiC by thermal annealing in a hydrogen atmosphere. Transfer was accomplished using a peeling process with a bilayer film of Gold/polyimide, to yield graphene with square millimeters of coverage on the target substrate. Back gated field-effect transistors fabricated on oxidized silicon substrates with Cr/Au as source-drain electrodes exhibited ambipolar characteristics with hole mobilities of ˜100 cm^2/V-s, and negligible influence of resistance at the contacts. This work was supported by the U.S. DOE, under Award No. DE-FG02-07ER46471, through the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

  4. Assessment of pseudo-bilayer structures in the heterogate germanium electron-hole bilayer tunnel field-effect transistor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Padilla, J. L.; Alper, C.; Ionescu, A. M.; Medina-Bailón, C.; Gámiz, F.

    2015-01-01

    We investigate the effect of pseudo-bilayer configurations at low operating voltages (≤0.5 V) in the heterogate germanium electron-hole bilayer tunnel field-effect transistor (HG-EHBTFET) compared to the traditional bilayer structures of EHBTFETs arising from semiclassical simulations where the inversion layers for electrons and holes featured very symmetric profiles with similar concentration levels at the ON-state. Pseudo-bilayer layouts are attained by inducing a certain asymmetry between the top and the bottom gates so that even though the hole inversion layer is formed at the bottom of the channel, the top gate voltage remains below the required value to trigger the formation of the inversion layer for electrons. Resulting benefits from this setup are improved electrostatic control on the channel, enhanced gate-to-gate efficiency, and higher I ON levels. Furthermore, pseudo-bilayer configurations alleviate the difficulties derived from confining very high opposite carrier concentrations in very thin structures

  5. Assessment of pseudo-bilayer structures in the heterogate germanium electron-hole bilayer tunnel field-effect transistor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Padilla, J. L., E-mail: jose.padilladelatorre@epfl.ch; Alper, C.; Ionescu, A. M. [Nanoelectronic Devices Laboratory, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015 (Switzerland); Medina-Bailón, C.; Gámiz, F. [Departamento de Electrónica y Tecnología de los Computadores, Universidad de Granada, Avda. Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada (Spain)

    2015-06-29

    We investigate the effect of pseudo-bilayer configurations at low operating voltages (≤0.5 V) in the heterogate germanium electron-hole bilayer tunnel field-effect transistor (HG-EHBTFET) compared to the traditional bilayer structures of EHBTFETs arising from semiclassical simulations where the inversion layers for electrons and holes featured very symmetric profiles with similar concentration levels at the ON-state. Pseudo-bilayer layouts are attained by inducing a certain asymmetry between the top and the bottom gates so that even though the hole inversion layer is formed at the bottom of the channel, the top gate voltage remains below the required value to trigger the formation of the inversion layer for electrons. Resulting benefits from this setup are improved electrostatic control on the channel, enhanced gate-to-gate efficiency, and higher I{sub ON} levels. Furthermore, pseudo-bilayer configurations alleviate the difficulties derived from confining very high opposite carrier concentrations in very thin structures.

  6. Tuning the electronic structure of graphene through alkali metal and halogen atom intercalation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmad, Sohail; Miró, Pere; Audiffred, Martha; Heine, Thomas

    2018-04-01

    The deposition, intercalation and co-intercalation of heavy alkali metals and light halogens atoms in graphene mono- and bilayers have been studied using first principles density-functional calculations. Both the deposition and the intercalation of alkali metals gives rise to n-type doping due to the formation of M+-C- pairs. The co-intercalation of a 1:1 ratio of alkali metals and halogens derives into the formation of ionic pairs among the intercalated species, unaltering the electronic structure of the layered material.

  7. Oscillatory motion in layered materials: graphene, boron nitride, and molybdenum disulfide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ye, Zhijiang; Martini, Ashlie; Otero-de-la-Roza, Alberto; Johnson, Erin R

    2015-01-01

    Offset-driven self-retraction and oscillatory motion of bilayer graphene has been observed experimentally and is potentially relevant for nanoscale technological applications. In a previous article, we showed that friction between laterally offset graphene layers is controlled by roughness and proposed a simple reduced-order model based on density-functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) data, with which predictions on the experimental size-scale could be made. In this article, we extend our study to other layered materials, with emphasis on boron nitride (BN) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ). Using MD and DFT simulations of these systems and a generalized version of the reduced-order model, we predict that BN will exhibit behavior similar to graphene (heavily-damped oscillation with a decay rate that increases with roughness) and that MoS 2 shows no oscillatory behavior even in the absence of roughness. This is attributed to the higher energy barrier for sliding in MoS 2 as well as the surface structure. Our generalized reduced-order model provides a guide to predicting and tuning experimental oscillation behavior using a few parameters that can be derived from simulation data. (paper)

  8. Molecular packing and area compressibility of lipid bilayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, S.H.; King, G.I.

    1985-01-01

    Knowledge of the molecular packing of lipids and water in lipid bilayers is important for understanding bilayer mechanics and thermodynamics. Information on packing is most often obtained from x-ray or neutron diffraction measurements. Given the d spacing, composition, and partial specific volumes of the lipid and water, it is a simple matter to calculate the area per lipid molecule, bilayer thickness, and bilayer mass density. The partial specific volumes are commonly assumed to be those of bulk water and of lipid in excess water regardless of the degree of bilayer hydration. The authors present evidence here that these assumptions should be seriously questioned. At low hydrations, they find the head groups of egg and dioleoyl lecithin to be much less tightly packed than previously thought and the partial specific volume of water to be considerably smaller than 1 ml/g. Because the molecular packing affects the mechanical properties of bilayers, they use the results to reevaluate published experiments concerning the elastic area compressibility modulus of egg lecithin bilayers and the repulsive hydration force between bilayers

  9. RED NOISE VERSUS PLANETARY INTERPRETATIONS IN THE MICROLENSING EVENT OGLE-2013-BLG-446

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bachelet, E.; Bramich, D. M.; AlSubai, K. [Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Qatar Foundation, P.O. Box 5825, Doha (Qatar); Han, C. [Department of Physics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-763 (Korea, Republic of); Greenhill, J. [School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 37, Hobart, TAS 7001 (Australia); Street, R. A.; Tsapras, Y. [Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, 6740 Cortona Drive, Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117 (United States); Gould, A.; Batista, V. [Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 W. 18th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); D’Ago, G. [Dipartimento di Fisica “E.R. Caianiello,” Università di Salerno, Via Ponte Don Melillo, I-84084-Fisciano (Italy); Dominik, M.; Jaimes, R. Figuera; Horne, K.; Hundertmark, M. [SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9SS (United Kingdom); Kains, N. [European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-85748 Garching bei München (Germany); Snodgrass, C. [Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Gttingen (Germany); Steele, I. A. [Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool CH41 1LD (United Kingdom); Albrow, M. D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8020 (New Zealand); Beaulieu, J.-P. [UPMC-CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut dAstrophysique de Paris, 98bis boulevard Arago, F-75014 Paris (France); Bennett, D. P., E-mail: c.botzler@auckland.ac.nz, E-mail: p.yock@auckland.ac.nz, E-mail: bennett@nd.edu, E-mail: abe@stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp, E-mail: furusawa@stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp, E-mail: itow@stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp [Department of Physics, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Collaboration: RoboNet collaboration; PLANET collaboration; μFUN collaboration; MOA collaboration; MiNDSTEp collaboration; and others

    2015-10-20

    For all exoplanet candidates, the reliability of a claimed detection needs to be assessed through a careful study of systematic errors in the data to minimize the false positives rate. We present a method to investigate such systematics in microlensing data sets using the microlensing event OGLE-2013-BLG-0446 as a case study. The event was observed from multiple sites around the world and its high magnification (A{sub max} ∼ 3000) allowed us to investigate the effects of terrestrial and annual parallax. Real-time modeling of the event while it was still ongoing suggested the presence of an extremely low-mass companion (∼3M{sub ⨁}) to the lensing star, leading to substantial follow-up coverage of the light curve. We test and compare different models for the light curve and conclude that the data do not favor the planetary interpretation when systematic errors are taken into account.

  10. Graphene Oxide in Lossy Mode Resonance-Based Optical Fiber Sensors for Ethanol Detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel Hernaez

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The influence of graphene oxide (GO over the features of an optical fiber ethanol sensor based on lossy mode resonances (LMR has been studied in this work. Four different sensors were built with this aim, each comprising a multimode optical fiber core fragment coated with a SnO2 thin film. Layer by layer (LbL coatings made of 1, 2 and 4 bilayers of polyethyleneimine (PEI and graphene oxide were deposited onto three of these devices and their behavior as aqueous ethanol sensors was characterized and compared with the sensor without GO. The sensors with GO showed much better performance with a maximum sensitivity enhancement of 176% with respect to the sensor without GO. To our knowledge, this is the first time that GO has been used to make an optical fiber sensor based on LMR.

  11. Graphene Oxide in Lossy Mode Resonance-Based Optical Fiber Sensors for Ethanol Detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernaez, Miguel; Mayes, Andrew G; Melendi-Espina, Sonia

    2017-12-27

    The influence of graphene oxide (GO) over the features of an optical fiber ethanol sensor based on lossy mode resonances (LMR) has been studied in this work. Four different sensors were built with this aim, each comprising a multimode optical fiber core fragment coated with a SnO₂ thin film. Layer by layer (LbL) coatings made of 1, 2 and 4 bilayers of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and graphene oxide were deposited onto three of these devices and their behavior as aqueous ethanol sensors was characterized and compared with the sensor without GO. The sensors with GO showed much better performance with a maximum sensitivity enhancement of 176% with respect to the sensor without GO. To our knowledge, this is the first time that GO has been used to make an optical fiber sensor based on LMR.

  12. Chlorine-trapped CVD bilayer graphene for resistive pressure sensor with high detection limit and high sensitivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phuong Pham, Viet; Triet Nguyen, Minh; Park, Jin Woo; Kwak, Sung Soo; Nguyen, Dieu Hien Thi; Kyeom Mun, Mu; Danh Phan, Hoang; San Kim, Doo; Kim, Ki Hyun; Lee, Nae-Eung; Yeom, Geun Young

    2017-06-01

    Pressure sensing is one of the key functions for smart electronics. Considerably more effort is required to achieve the fabrication of pressure sensors that can imitate and overcome the sophisticated pressure sensing characteristics in nature and industry, especially in the innovation of materials and structures. Almost all of the pressure sensors reported until now have a high sensitivity at a low-pressure detection limit (type chlorine trap doping in the channel graphene with chlorine radicals without damaging the graphene. This work indicates that the ZGClG channel used for the pressure sensing device could also provide a simple and essential sensing platform for chemical-, medical-, and biological-sensing for future smart electronics.

  13. From Coherent States in Adjacent Graphene Layers toward Low-Power Logic Circuits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Register, L.F.; Basu, D.; Reddy, D.

    2011-01-01

    Colleagues and we recently proposed a new type of transistor, a Bilayer Pseudo Spin Field Effect Transistor (BiSFET), based on many-body coherent states in coupled electron and hole layers in graphene. Here we review the basic BiSFET device concept and ongoing efforts to determine how such a device, which would be far from a drop-in replacement for MOSFETs in CMOS logic, could be used for low-power logic operation, and to model the effects of engineer able device parameters on the formation and gating of interlayer coherent state.

  14. Spin transport in two-layer-CVD-hBN/graphene/hBN heterostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurram, M.; Omar, S.; Zihlmann, S.; Makk, P.; Li, Q. C.; Zhang, Y. F.; Schönenberger, C.; van Wees, B. J.

    2018-01-01

    We study room-temperature spin transport in graphene devices encapsulated between a layer-by-layer-stacked two-layer-thick chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) tunnel barrier, and a few-layer-thick exfoliated-hBN substrate. We find mobilities and spin-relaxation times comparable to that of SiO2 substrate-based graphene devices, and we obtain a similar order of magnitude of spin relaxation rates for both the Elliott-Yafet and D'Yakonov-Perel' mechanisms. The behavior of ferromagnet/two-layer-CVD-hBN/graphene/hBN contacts ranges from transparent to tunneling due to inhomogeneities in the CVD-hBN barriers. Surprisingly, we find both positive and negative spin polarizations for high-resistance two-layer-CVD-hBN barrier contacts with respect to the low-resistance contacts. Furthermore, we find that the differential spin-injection polarization of the high-resistance contacts can be modulated by dc bias from -0.3 to +0.3 V with no change in its sign, while its magnitude increases at higher negative bias. These features point to the distinctive spin-injection nature of the two-layer-CVD-hBN compared to the bilayer-exfoliated-hBN tunnel barriers.

  15. Flexible and Transparent Plastic Electrodes Composed of Reduced Graphene Oxide/Polyaniline Films for Supercapacitor Application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarker, Ashis K.; Hong, Jongdal

    2014-01-01

    In this article, we described about the preparation and electrochemical properties of a flexible energy storage system based on a plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The PET treated with UV/ozone was fabricated with multilayer films composed of 30 polyaniline (PANi)/graphene oxide (GO) bilayers using layerby-layer assembly of positively charged PANi and negatively charged GO. The conversion of GO to the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) in the multilayer film was achieved using hydroiodic acid vapor at 100 .deg. C, whereby PANi structure remained nearly unchanged except a little reduction of doping state. Cyclic voltammetry and charge/discharge curves of 30 PANi/RGO bilayers on PET substrate (shorten to PANi-RGO 30 /PET) exhibited an excellent volumetric capacitance, good cycling stability, and rapid charge/discharge rates despite no use of any metal current collectors. The specific capacitance from charge/discharge curve of the PANi-RGO 30 /PET electrode was found to be 529 F/cm 3 at a current density of 3 A/cm 3 , which is one of the best values yet achieved among carbon-based materials including conducting polymers. Furthermore, the intrinsic electrical resistance of the PANi-RGO 30 /PET electrodes varied within 20% range during 200 bending cycles at a fixed bend radius of 2.2 mm, indicating the increase in their flexibility by a factor of 225 compared with the ITO/PET electrode

  16. Electronic properties of graphene nano-flakes: Energy gap, permanent dipole, termination effect, and Raman spectroscopy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Singh, Sandeep Kumar, E-mail: SandeepKumar.Singh@uantwerpen.be; Peeters, F. M., E-mail: Francois.Peeters@uantwerpen.be [Department of Physics, University of Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen (Belgium); Neek-Amal, M., E-mail: neekamal@srttu.edu [Department of Physics, University of Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen (Belgium); Department of Physics, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Lavizan, Tehran 16788 (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2014-02-21

    The electronic properties of graphene nano-flakes (GNFs) with different edge passivation are investigated by using density functional theory. Passivation with F and H atoms is considered: C{sub N{sub c}} X{sub N{sub x}} (X = F or H). We studied GNFs with 10 < N{sub c} < 56 and limit ourselves to the lowest energy configurations. We found that: (i) the energy difference Δ between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital decreases with N{sub c}, (ii) topological defects (pentagon and heptagon) break the symmetry of the GNFs and enhance the electric polarization, (iii) the mutual interaction of bilayer GNFs can be understood by dipole-dipole interaction which were found sensitive to the relative orientation of the GNFs, (iv) the permanent dipoles depend on the edge terminated atom, while the energy gap is independent of it, and (v) the presence of heptagon and pentagon defects in the GNFs results in the largest difference between the energy of the spin-up and spin-down electrons which is larger for the H-passivated GNFs as compared to F-passivated GNFs. Our study shows clearly the effect of geometry, size, termination, and bilayer on the electronic properties of small GNFs. This study reveals important features of graphene nano-flakes which can be detected using Raman spectroscopy.

  17. Reactions of radicals with lecithin bilayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barber, D.J.W.; Thomas, J.K.

    1978-01-01

    The kinetics of reaction of .OH and e/sub aq/ - with lecithin bilayers have been measured. The rate for .OH + lecithin is 5.1 +- 0.9 x 10 8 M -1 sec -1 while the e/sub aq/ - + lecithin rate is very slow. When a solute such as pyrene is solubilized in the bilayer, .OH and e/sub aq/ - may react with the solute; rates of 1.65 +- 0.12 x 10 9 M -1 sec -1 and 7 x 10 7 M -1 sec -1 have been measured for reaction of .OH and e/sub aq/ - , respectively, with pyrene in lecithin. These rates are lower than those observed for similar reactions in homogeneous systems. This is explained in terms of (a) the protective effect of the bilayer, this being especially true for e/sub aq/ - which does not readily leave the aqueous phase, and (b) in terms of the restricted diffusion imposed on the reactive species by the bilayer. The kinetics in these model systems are relevant to reactions of radicals with membranes. Long-term alteration in the model membrane following .OH attack is manifested in terms of damage to the head group, increasing water penetration of the bilayer, and of cross-linking with the membrane, thereby restricting motion in the interior of the bilayer. Increased rigidity and leakiness of membranes is an expected consequence of radiation damage

  18. MOA-2010-BLG-328Lb: A sub-Neptune orbiting very late M dwarf?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Furusawa, K.; Abe, F.; Itow, Y.; Masuda, K.; Matsubara, Y. [Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan); Udalski, A. [Warsaw University Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa (Poland); Sumi, T. [Department of Earth and Space Science, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043 (Japan); Bennett, D. P. [Department of Physics, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Bond, I. A.; Ling, C. H. [Institute for Information and Mathematical Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 102-904, Auckland 1330 (New Zealand); Gould, A. [Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Jørgensen, U. G. [Niels Bohr Institutet, Københavns Universitet, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Snodgrass, C. [Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Max-Planck-Str. 2, D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany); Prester, D. Dominis [Department of Physics, University of Rijeka, Omladinska 14, 51000 Rijeka (Croatia); Albrow, M. D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8020 (New Zealand); Botzler, C. S.; Freeman, M. [Department of Physics, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92-019, Auckland 1001 (New Zealand); Chote, P.; Harris, P. [School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University, Wellington (New Zealand); Fukui, A., E-mail: furusawa@stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp, E-mail: liweih@astro.ucla.edu, E-mail: tim.natusch@aut.ac.nz, E-mail: rzellem@lpl.arizona.edu [Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 3037-5 Honjo, Kamogata, Asakuchi, Okayama 719-0232 (Japan); Collaboration: MOA Collaboration; OGLE Collaboration; μFUN Collaboration; MiNDSTEp Consortium; RoboNet Collaboration; PLANET Collaboration; and others

    2013-12-20

    We analyze the planetary microlensing event MOA-2010-BLG-328. The best fit yields host and planetary masses of M {sub h} = 0.11 ± 0.01 M {sub ☉} and M {sub p} = 9.2 ± 2.2 M {sub ⊕}, corresponding to a very late M dwarf and sub-Neptune-mass planet, respectively. The system lies at D {sub L} = 0.81 ± 0.10 kpc with projected separation r = 0.92 ± 0.16 AU. Because of the host's a priori unlikely close distance, as well as the unusual nature of the system, we consider the possibility that the microlens parallax signal, which determines the host mass and distance, is actually due to xallarap (source orbital motion) that is being misinterpreted as parallax. We show a result that favors the parallax solution, even given its close host distance. We show that future high-resolution astrometric measurements could decisively resolve the remaining ambiguity of these solutions.

  19. MOA-2010-BLG-328Lb: A sub-Neptune orbiting very late M dwarf?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Furusawa, K.; Abe, F.; Itow, Y.; Masuda, K.; Matsubara, Y.; Udalski, A.; Sumi, T.; Bennett, D. P.; Bond, I. A.; Ling, C. H.; Gould, A.; Jørgensen, U. G.; Snodgrass, C.; Prester, D. Dominis; Albrow, M. D.; Botzler, C. S.; Freeman, M.; Chote, P.; Harris, P.; Fukui, A.

    2013-01-01

    We analyze the planetary microlensing event MOA-2010-BLG-328. The best fit yields host and planetary masses of M h = 0.11 ± 0.01 M ☉ and M p = 9.2 ± 2.2 M ⊕ , corresponding to a very late M dwarf and sub-Neptune-mass planet, respectively. The system lies at D L = 0.81 ± 0.10 kpc with projected separation r = 0.92 ± 0.16 AU. Because of the host's a priori unlikely close distance, as well as the unusual nature of the system, we consider the possibility that the microlens parallax signal, which determines the host mass and distance, is actually due to xallarap (source orbital motion) that is being misinterpreted as parallax. We show a result that favors the parallax solution, even given its close host distance. We show that future high-resolution astrometric measurements could decisively resolve the remaining ambiguity of these solutions

  20. MOA-2010-BLG-311: A PLANETARY CANDIDATE BELOW THE THRESHOLD OF RELIABLE DETECTION

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yee, J. C.; Hung, L.-W.; Gould, A.; Gaudi, B. S.; Bond, I. A.; Allen, W.; Monard, L. A. G.; Albrow, M. D.; Fouqué, P.; Dominik, M.; Tsapras, Y.; Udalski, A.; Zellem, R.; Bos, M.; Christie, G. W.; DePoy, D. L.; Dong, Subo; Drummond, J.; Gorbikov, E.; Han, C.

    2013-01-01

    We analyze MOA-2010-BLG-311, a high magnification (A max > 600) microlensing event with complete data coverage over the peak, making it very sensitive to planetary signals. We fit this event with both a point lens and a two-body lens model and find that the two-body lens model is a better fit but with only Δχ 2 ∼ 80. The preferred mass ratio between the lens star and its companion is q = 10 –3.7±0.1 , placing the candidate companion in the planetary regime. Despite the formal significance of the planet, we show that because of systematics in the data the evidence for a planetary companion to the lens is too tenuous to claim a secure detection. When combined with analyses of other high-magnification events, this event helps empirically define the threshold for reliable planet detection in high-magnification events, which remains an open question.

  1. MOA-2010-BLG-311: A PLANETARY CANDIDATE BELOW THE THRESHOLD OF RELIABLE DETECTION

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yee, J. C.; Hung, L.-W.; Gould, A.; Gaudi, B. S. [Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Bond, I. A. [Institute for Information and Mathematical Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 102-904, Auckland 1330 (New Zealand); Allen, W. [Vintage Lane Observatory, Blenheim (New Zealand); Monard, L. A. G. [Bronberg Observatory, Centre for Backyard Astrophysics, Pretoria (South Africa); Albrow, M. D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8020 (New Zealand); Fouque, P. [IRAP, CNRS, Universite de Toulouse, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse (France); Dominik, M. [SUPA, University of St. Andrews, School of Physics and Astronomy, North Haugh, St. Andrews, KY16 9SS (United Kingdom); Tsapras, Y. [Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, 6740B Cortona Drive, Goleta, CA 93117 (United States); Udalski, A. [Warsaw University Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa (Poland); Zellem, R. [Department of Planetary Sciences/LPL, University of Arizona, 1629 East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Bos, M. [Molehill Astronomical Observatory, North Shore City, Auckland (New Zealand); Christie, G. W. [Auckland Observatory, P.O. Box 24-180, Auckland (New Zealand); DePoy, D. L. [Department of Physics, Texas A and M University, 4242 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4242 (United States); Dong, Subo [Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540 (United States); Drummond, J. [Possum Observatory, Patutahi (New Zealand); Gorbikov, E. [School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverley Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel); Han, C., E-mail: liweih@astro.ucla.edu, E-mail: rzellem@lpl.arizona.edu, E-mail: tim.natusch@aut.ac.nz [Department of Physics, Chungbuk National University, 410 Seongbong-Rho, Hungduk-Gu, Chongju 371-763 (Korea, Republic of); Collaboration: muFUN Collaboration; MOA Collaboration; OGLE Collaboration; PLANET Collaboration; RoboNet Collaboration; MiNDSTEp Consortium; and others

    2013-05-20

    We analyze MOA-2010-BLG-311, a high magnification (A{sub max} > 600) microlensing event with complete data coverage over the peak, making it very sensitive to planetary signals. We fit this event with both a point lens and a two-body lens model and find that the two-body lens model is a better fit but with only {Delta}{chi}{sup 2} {approx} 80. The preferred mass ratio between the lens star and its companion is q = 10{sup -3.7{+-}0.1}, placing the candidate companion in the planetary regime. Despite the formal significance of the planet, we show that because of systematics in the data the evidence for a planetary companion to the lens is too tenuous to claim a secure detection. When combined with analyses of other high-magnification events, this event helps empirically define the threshold for reliable planet detection in high-magnification events, which remains an open question.

  2. Rational design of a bi-layered reduced graphene oxide film on polystyrene foam for solar-driven interfacial water evaporation

    KAUST Repository

    Shi, Le; Wang, Yuchao; Zhang, Lianbin; Wang, Peng

    2016-01-01

    Solar-driven water evaporation has been emerging as a highly efficient way for utilizing solar energy for clean water production and wastewater treatment. Here we rationally designed and fabricated a bi-layered photothermal membrane with a porous

  3. Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in n = 0 Landau Band of Graphene with Chern Number Matrix

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kudo, Koji; Hatsugai, Yasuhiro

    2018-06-01

    Fully taking into account the honeycomb lattice structure, fractional quantum Hall states of graphene are considered by a pseudopotential projected into the n = 0 Landau band. By using chirality as an internal degree of freedom, the Chern number matrices are defined and evaluated numerically. Quantum phase transition induced by changing a range of the interaction is demonstrated that is associated with chirality ferromagnetism. The chirality-unpolarized ground state is consistent with the Halperin 331 state of the bilayer quantum Hall system.

  4. Mixed Mechanism of Lubrication by Lipid Bilayer Stacks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boţan, Alexandru; Joly, Laurent; Fillot, Nicolas; Loison, Claire

    2015-11-10

    Although the key role of lipid bilayer stacks in biological lubrication is generally accepted, the mechanisms underlying their extreme efficiency remain elusive. In this article, we report molecular dynamics simulations of lipid bilayer stacks undergoing load and shear. When the hydration level is reduced, the velocity accommodation mechanism changes from viscous shear in hydration water to interlayer sliding in the bilayers. This enables stacks of hydrated lipid bilayers to act as efficient boundary lubricants for various hydration conditions, structures, and mechanical loads. We also propose an estimation for the friction coefficient; thanks to the strong hydration forces between lipid bilayers, the high local viscosity is not in contradiction with low friction coefficients.

  5. Peierls instability and optical properties of bilayer polyacene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Longlong, E-mail: zhanglonglong@tyut.edu.cn [The College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Xie, Shijie [School of Physics, Shandong University, Jinan 250100 (China)

    2017-05-03

    Highlights: • The Peierls instability of bilayer polyacene is discussed. • The external electric field effect on bilayer polyacene is discussed. • The pressure effect on bilayer polyacene is discussed. • The optical properties of bilayer polyacene are discussed. - Abstract: We reveal that bilayer polyacene can be the gapped state due to the intralayer Peierls instability. There are six topologically inequivalent Peierls-distorted structures and they are degenerate in energy. The external electric field can tune the Peierls gap and induce the semiconductor-to-metallic phase transitions. The optical conductivity spectra are calculated in an attempt to categorize the Peierls-distorted structures. The strength of the interlayer coupling essentially affects the electronic properties and the optical selection rules.

  6. Infrared spectroscopy of fluid lipid bilayers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hull, Marshall C; Cambrea, Lee R; Hovis, Jennifer S

    2005-09-15

    Infrared spectroscopy is a powerful technique for examining lipid bilayers; however, it says little about the fluidity of the bilayer-a key physical aspect. It is shown here that it is possible to both acquire spectroscopic data of supported lipid bilayer samples and make measurements of the membrane fluidity. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR) is used to obtain the spectroscopic information and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) is used to determine the fluidity of the samples. In the infrared spectra of lipid bilayers composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, the following major peaks were observed; nu(as)(CH3) 2954 cm(-1), nu(s)(CH3) 2870 cm(-1), nu(as)(CH2) 2924 cm(-1), nu(s)(CH2) 2852 cm(-1), nu(C=O) 1734 cm(-1), delta(CH2) 1463-1473 cm(-1), nu(as)(PO2-) 1226 cm(-1), nu(s)(PO2-) 1084 cm(-1), and nu(as)(N+(CH3)3) 973 cm(-1). The diffusion coefficient of the same lipid bilayer was measured to be 3.5 +/- 0.5 micom(2)/s with visual recovery also noted through use of epifluorescence microscopy. FRAP and visual data confirm the formation of a uniform, mobile supported lipid bilayer. The combination of ATR-FT-IR and FRAP provides complementary data giving a more complete picture of fully hydrated model membrane systems.

  7. Viscoelastic deformation of lipid bilayer vesicles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Shao-Hua; Sankhagowit, Shalene; Biswas, Roshni; Wu, Shuyang; Povinelli, Michelle L; Malmstadt, Noah

    2015-10-07

    Lipid bilayers form the boundaries of the cell and its organelles. Many physiological processes, such as cell movement and division, involve bending and folding of the bilayer at high curvatures. Currently, bending of the bilayer is treated as an elastic deformation, such that its stress-strain response is independent of the rate at which bending strain is applied. We present here the first direct measurement of viscoelastic response in a lipid bilayer vesicle. We used a dual-beam optical trap (DBOT) to stretch 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). Upon application of a step optical force, the vesicle membrane deforms in two regimes: a fast, instantaneous area increase, followed by a much slower stretching to an eventual plateau deformation. From measurements of dozens of GUVs, the average time constant of the slower stretching response was 0.225 ± 0.033 s (standard deviation, SD). Increasing the fluid viscosity did not affect the observed time constant. We performed a set of experiments to rule out heating by laser absorption as a cause of the transient behavior. Thus, we demonstrate here that the bending deformation of lipid bilayer membranes should be treated as viscoelastic.

  8. Acoustic performance of dual-electrode electrostatic sound generators based on CVD graphene on polyimide film.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kyoung-Ryul; Jang, Sung Hwan; Jung, Inhwa

    2018-08-10

    We investigated the acoustic performance of electrostatic sound-generating devices consisting of bi-layer graphene on polyimide film. The total sound pressure level (SPL) of the sound generated from the devices was measured as a function of source frequency by sweeping, and frequency spectra were measured at 1/3 octave band frequencies. The relationship between various operation conditions and total SPL was determined. In addition, the effects of changing voltage level, adding a DC offset, and using two pairs of electrodes were evaluated. It should be noted that two pairs of electrode operations improved sound generation by about 10 dB over all frequency ranges compared with conventional operation. As for the sound-generating capability, total SPL was 70 dBA at 4 kHz when an AC voltage of 100 V pp was applied with a DC offset of 100 V. Acoustic characteristics differed from other types of graphene-based sound generators, such as graphene thermoacoustic devices and graphene polyvinylidene fluoride devices. The effects of diameter and distance between electrodes were also studied, and we found that diameter greatly influenced the frequency response. We anticipate that the design information provided in this paper, in addition to describing key parameters of electrostatic sound-generating devices, will facilitate the commercial development of electrostatic sound-generating systems.

  9. Interfacial characterization and supercapacitive properties of polyaniline-Gum arabic nanocomposite/graphene oxide LbL modified electrodes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, Rafaela D.; Santos, Cleverson S.; Ferreira, Rodolfo T.; Marciniuk, Gustavo; Marchesi, Luís F.; Garcia, Jarem R.; Vidotti, Marcio; Pessoa, Christiana A.

    2017-12-01

    In this manuscript, we describe the synthesis and electrochemical characterization of polyaniline-gum arabic nanocomposites and graphene oxide (PANI-GA/GO) modified electrodes with a detailed study concerning their supercapacitive properties. The electrode modification was carried out by using the Layer-by-Layer technique (LbL), where the PANI-GA nanocomposite dispersion was used as polycation and the GO colloidal dispersion as polyanion. The bilayer growth was followed by both UV-vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry, and an increase in the characteristic PANI absorption and in the electrochemical signal was verified, confirming the electrode build up. Galvanostatic charge-discharge curves (GCDC) were performed to evaluate the supercapacitive properties of the modified electrodes, these results showed the dependence of the specific capacitance with the number of bilayers, where values of CS around 15 mF cm-2 (i = 0.1 mA cm-2) were found. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirmed the pseudocapacitive properties of the modified electrodes, showing an increase in the low-frequency capacitance with the number of bilayers. Hereby the (PANI-GA/GO)-LbL electrodes were shown to be good candidates for active materials in supercapacitors.

  10. Engineering plant membranes using droplet interface bilayers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barlow, N E; Smpokou, E; Friddin, M S; Macey, R; Gould, I R; Turnbull, C; Flemming, A J; Brooks, N J; Ces, O; Barter, L M C

    2017-03-01

    Droplet interface bilayers (DIBs) have become widely recognised as a robust platform for constructing model membranes and are emerging as a key technology for the bottom-up assembly of synthetic cell-like and tissue-like structures. DIBs are formed when lipid-monolayer coated water droplets are brought together inside a well of oil, which is excluded from the interface as the DIB forms. The unique features of the system, compared to traditional approaches (e.g., supported lipid bilayers, black lipid membranes, and liposomes), is the ability to engineer multi-layered bilayer networks by connecting multiple droplets together in 3D, and the capability to impart bilayer asymmetry freely within these droplet architectures by supplying droplets with different lipids. Yet despite these achievements, one potential limitation of the technology is that DIBs formed from biologically relevant components have not been well studied. This could limit the reach of the platform to biological systems where bilayer composition and asymmetry are understood to play a key role. Herein, we address this issue by reporting the assembly of asymmetric DIBs designed to replicate the plasma membrane compositions of three different plant species; Arabidopsis thaliana , tobacco, and oats, by engineering vesicles with different amounts of plant phospholipids, sterols and cerebrosides for the first time. We show that vesicles made from our plant lipid formulations are stable and can be used to assemble asymmetric plant DIBs. We verify this using a bilayer permeation assay, from which we extract values for absolute effective bilayer permeation and bilayer stability. Our results confirm that stable DIBs can be assembled from our plant membrane mimics and could lead to new approaches for assembling model systems to study membrane translocation and to screen new agrochemicals in plants.

  11. Molecular dynamics modelling of EGCG clusters on ceramide bilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yeo, Jingjie; Cheng, Yuan; Li, Weifeng; Zhang, Yong-Wei [Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, 138632 (Singapore)

    2015-12-31

    A novel method of atomistic modelling and characterization of both pure ceramide and mixed lipid bilayers is being developed, using only the General Amber ForceField. Lipid bilayers modelled as pure ceramides adopt hexagonal packing after equilibration, and the area per lipid and bilayer thickness are consistent with previously reported theoretical results. Mixed lipid bilayers are modelled as a combination of ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids. This model is shown to be stable after equilibration. Green tea extract, also known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, is introduced as a spherical cluster on the surface of the mixed lipid bilayer. It is demonstrated that the cluster is able to bind to the bilayers as a cluster without diffusing into the surrounding water.

  12. Interaction of elaiophylin with model bilayer membrane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genova, J.; Dencheva-Zarkova, M.

    2017-01-01

    Elaiophylin is a new macrodiolide antibiotic, which is produced by the Streptomyces strains [1]. It displays biological activities against Gram-positive bacteria and fungi. The mode of action of this antibiotic has been attributed to an alteration of the membrane permeability. When this antibiotic is inserted into the bilayer membranes destabilization of the membrane and formation of ion-penetrable channels is observed. The macrodiolide antibiotic forms stable cation selective ion channels in synthetic lipid bilayer membranes. The aim of this work was to study the interactions of Elaiophylin with model bilayer membranes and to get information on the mechanical properties of lipid bilayers in presence of this antibiotic. Patch-clamp technique [2] were used in the study

  13. Pair interaction of bilayer-coated nanoscopic particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qi-Yi, Zhang

    2009-01-01

    The pair interaction between bilayer membrane-coated nanosized particles has been explored by using the self-consistent field (SCF) theory. The bilayer membranes are composed of amphiphilic polymers. For different system parameters, the pair-interaction free energies are obtained. Particular emphasis is placed on the analysis of a sequence of structural transformations of bilayers on spherical particles, which occur during their approaching processes. For different head fractions of amphiphiles, the asymmetrical morphologies between bilayers on two particles and the inverted micellar intermediates have been found in the membrane fusion pathway. These results can benefit the fabrication of vesicles as encapsulation vectors for drug and gene delivery. (condensed matter: structure, thermal and mechanical properties)

  14. EDITORIAL: Epitaxial graphene Epitaxial graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Heer, Walt A.; Berger, Claire

    2012-04-01

    Graphene is widely regarded as an important new electronic material with interesting two-dimensional electron gas properties. Not only that, but graphene is widely considered to be an important new material for large-scale integrated electronic devices that may eventually even succeed silicon. In fact, there are countless publications that demonstrate the amazing applications potential of graphene. In order to realize graphene electronics, a platform is required that is compatible with large-scale electronics processing methods. It was clear from the outset that graphene grown epitaxially on silicon carbide substrates was exceptionally well suited as a platform for graphene-based electronics, not only because the graphene sheets are grown directly on electronics-grade silicon carbide (an important semiconductor in its own right), but also because these sheets are oriented with respect to the semiconductor. Moreover, the extremely high temperatures involved in production assure essentially defect-free and contamination-free materials with well-defined interfaces. Epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide is not a unique material, but actually a class of materials. It is a complex structure consisting of a reconstructed silicon carbide surface, which, for planar hexagonal silicon carbide, is either the silicon- or the carbon-terminated face, an interfacial carbon rich layer, followed by one or more graphene layers. Consequently, the structure of graphene films on silicon carbide turns out to be a rich surface-science puzzle that has been intensively studied and systematically unravelled with a wide variety of surface science probes. Moreover, the graphene films produced on the carbon-terminated face turn out to be rotationally stacked, resulting in unique and important structural and electronic properties. Finally, in contrast to essentially all other graphene production methods, epitaxial graphene can be grown on structured silicon carbide surfaces to produce graphene

  15. Highly Efficient and Stable Organic Solar Cells via Interface Engineering with a Nanostructured ITR-GO/PFN Bilayer Cathode Interlayer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ding Zheng

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available An innovative bilayer cathode interlayer (CIL with a nanostructure consisting of in situ thermal reduced graphene oxide (ITR-GO and poly[(9,9-bis(3′-(N,N-dimethylamionpropyl-2,7-fluorene-alt-2,7-(9,9-dioctyl fluorene] (PFN has been fabricated for inverted organic solar cells (OSCs. An approach to prepare a CIL of high electronic quality by using ITR-GO as a template to modulate the morphology of the interface between the active layer and electrode and to further reduce the work function of the electrode has also been realized. This bilayer ITR-GO/PFN CIL is processed by a spray-coating method with facile in situ thermal reduction. Meanwhile, the CIL shows a good charge transport efficiency and less charge recombination, which leads to a significant enhancement of the power conversion efficiency from 6.47% to 8.34% for Poly({4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyloxy]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl}{3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexylcarbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]thiophenediyl} (PTB7:[6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM-based OSCs. In addition, the long-term stability of the OSC is improved by using the ITR-GO/PFN CIL when compared with the pristine device. These results indicate that the bilayer ITR-GO/PFN CIL is a promising way to realize high-efficiency and stable OSCs by using water-soluble conjugated polymer electrolytes such as PFN.

  16. Possible mechanism of adhesion in a mica supported phospholipid bilayer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pertsin, Alexander; Grunze, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Phospholipid bilayers supported on hydrophilic solids like silica and mica play a substantial role in fundamental studies and technological applications of phospholipid membranes. In both cases the molecular mechanism of adhesion between the bilayer and the support is of primary interest. Since the possibilities of experimental methods in this specific area are rather limited, the methods of computer simulation acquire great importance. In this paper we use the grand canonical Monte Carlo technique and an atomistic force field to simulate the behavior of a mica supported phospholipid bilayer in pure water as a function of the distance between the bilayer and the support. The simulation reveals a possible adhesion mechanism, where the adhesion is due to individual lipid molecules that protrude from the bilayer and form widely spaced links with the support. Simultaneously, the bilayer remains separated from the bilayer by a thin water interlayer which maintains the bilayer fluidity

  17. Viscoelastic deformation of lipid bilayer vesicles†

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Shao-Hua; Sankhagowit, Shalene; Biswas, Roshni; Wu, Shuyang; Povinelli, Michelle L.

    2015-01-01

    Lipid bilayers form the boundaries of the cell and its organelles. Many physiological processes, such as cell movement and division, involve bending and folding of the bilayer at high curvatures. Currently, bending of the bilayer is treated as an elastic deformation, such that its stress-strain response is independent of the rate at which bending strain is applied. We present here the first direct measurement of viscoelastic response in a lipid bilayer vesicle. We used a dual-beam optical trap (DBOT) to stretch 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). Upon application of a step optical force, the vesicle membrane deforms in two regimes: a fast, instantaneous area increase, followed by a much slower stretching to an eventual plateau deformation. From measurements of dozens of GUVs, the average time constant of the slower stretching response was 0.225 ± 0.033 s (standard deviation, SD). Increasing the fluid viscosity did not affect the observed time constant. We performed a set of experiments to rule out heating by laser absorption as a cause of the transient behavior. Thus, we demonstrate here that the bending deformation of lipid bilayer membranes should be treated as viscoelastic. PMID:26268612

  18. Chemical evolution of the Galactic bulge as traced by microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars. Detailed abundance analysis of OGLE-2008-BLG-209S

    OpenAIRE

    Bensby, T.; Johnson, J. A.; Cohen, J.; Feltzing, S.; Udalski, A.; Gould, A.; Huang, W.; Thompson, I.; Simmerer, J.; Adén, D.

    2009-01-01

    AIMS. Our aims are twofold. First we aim to evaluate the robustness and accuracy of stellar parameters and detailed elemental abundances that can be derived from high-resolution spectroscopic observations of microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars. We then aim to use microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars to investigate the abundance structure and chemical evolution of the Milky Way Bulge. [ABRIDGED] METHODS. We present a detailed elemental abundance analysis of OGLE-2008-BLG-209S, the source star...

  19. Effects of doping and bias voltage on the screening in AAA-stacked trilayer graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadi, Yawar; Moradian, Rostam; Shirzadi Tabar, Farzad

    2014-09-01

    We calculate the static polarization of AAA-stacked trilayer graphene (TLG) and study its screening properties within the random phase approximation (RPA) in all undoped, doped and biased regimes. We find that the static polarization of undoped AAA-stacked TLG is a combination of the doped and undoped single-layer graphene static polarization. This leads to an enhancement of the dielectric background constant along a Thomas-Fermi screening with the Thomas-Fermi wave vector which is independent of carrier concentrations and a 1/r3 power law decay for the long-distance behavior of the screened Coulomb potential. We show that effects of a bias voltage can be taken into account by a renormalization of the interlayer hopping energy to a new bias-voltage-dependent value, indicating screening properties of AAA-stacked TLG can be tuned electrically. We also find that screening properties of doped AAA-stacked TLG, when μ exceeds √{2}γ, are similar to that of doped SLG only depending on doping. While for μ<√{2}γ, its screening properties are combination of SLG and AA-stacked bilayer graphene screening properties and they are determined by doping and the interlayer hopping energy.

  20. Cholesterol Protects the Oxidized Lipid Bilayer from Water Injury

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Owen, Michael C; Kulig, Waldemar; Rog, Tomasz

    2018-01-01

    In an effort to delineate how cholesterol protects membrane structure under oxidative stress conditions, we monitored the changes to the structure of lipid bilayers comprising 30 mol% cholesterol and an increasing concentration of Class B oxidized 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC...... in a characteristic reduction in bilayer thickness and increase in area per lipid, thereby increasing the exposure of the membrane hydrophobic region to water. However, cholesterol was observed to help reduce water injury by moving into the bilayer core and forming more hydrogen bonds with the oxPLs. Cholesterol also...... resists altering its tilt angle, helping to maintain membrane integrity. Water that enters the 1-nm-thick core region remains part of the bulk water on either side of the bilayer, with relatively few water molecules able to traverse through the bilayer. In cholesterol-rich membranes, the bilayer does...

  1. Thermotropic and Barotropic Phase Behavior of Phosphatidylcholine Bilayers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nobutake Tamai

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Bilayers formed by phospholipids are frequently used as model biological membranes in various life science studies. A characteristic feature of phospholipid bilayers is to undergo a structural change called a phase transition in response to environmental changes of their surroundings. In this review, we focus our attention on phase transitions of some major phospholipids contained in biological membranes, phosphatidylcholines (PCs, depending on temperature and pressure. Bilayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC, which is the most representative lipid in model membrane studies, will first be explained. Then, the bilayer phase behavior of various kinds of PCs with different molecular structures is revealed from the temperature–pressure phase diagrams, and the difference in phase stability among these PC bilayers is discussed in connection with the molecular structure of the PC molecules. Furthermore, the solvent effect on the phase behavior is also described briefly.

  2. OGLE-2017-BLG-1434Lb: Eighth qTurnover in Planet Mass-Ratio Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Udalski, A.; Ryu, Y.-H.; Sajadian, S.; Gould, A.; Mrǎłz, P.; Poleski, R.; Szymański, M. K.; Skowron, J.; Soszyński, I.; Kozłowski, S.; Pietrukowicz, P.; Ulaczyk, K.; Pawlak, M.; Rybicki, K.; Iwanek, P.; Albrow, M. D.; Chung, S.-J.; Han, C.; Hwang, K.-H.; Jung, Y., K.; Shin, I.-G.; Shvartzvald, Y.; Yee, J. C.; Zang, W.; Zhu, W.; Cha, S.-M.; Kim, D.-J.; Kim, H.-W.; Kim, S.-L.; Lee, C.-U.; Lee, D.-J.; Lee, Y.; Park, B.-G.; Pogge, R. W.; Bozza, V.; Dominik, M.; Helling, C.; Hundertmark, M.; Jørgensen, U. G.; Longa-Peña, P.; Lowry, S.; Burgdorf, M.; Campbell-White, J.; Ciceri, S.; Evans, D.; Figuera Jaimes, R.; Fujii, Y. I.; Haikala, L. K.; Henning, T.; Hinse, T. C.; Mancini, L.; Peixinho, N.; Rahvar, S.; Rabus, M.; Skottfelt, J.; Snodgrass, C.; Southworth, J.; von Essen, C.

    2018-03-01

    We report the discovery of a cold Super-Earth planet (mp=4.4±0.5 M⊙) orbiting a low-mass (M=0.23±0.03) M⊙ dwarf at projected separation a⊥=1.18±0.10 a.u., i.e., about 1.9 times the distance the snow line. The system is quite nearby for a microlensing planet, DL=0.86±0.09 kpc. Indeed, it was the large lens-source relative parallax πrel=1.0 mas (combined with the low mass M) that gave rise to the large, and thus well-measured, "microlens parallax" πE∝(πrel/M)1/2 that enabled these precise measurements. OGLE-2017-BLG-1434Lb is the eighth microlensing planet with planet-host mass ratio qturnover" in the mass function found by Suzuki et al. relative to the power law of opposite sign n=-0.93±0.13 at higher mass ratios q≳2×10-4. We combine our result with that of Suzuki et al. to obtain p=0.73+0.42-0.34.

  3. Interface-mediation of lipid bilayer organization and dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mize, Hannah E; Blanchard, G J

    2016-06-22

    We report on the morphology and dynamics of planar supported lipid bilayer structures as a function of pH and ionic strength of the aqueous overlayer. Supported lipid bilayers composed of three components (phosphocholine, sphingomyelin and cholesterol) are known to exhibit phase segregation, with the characteristic domain sizes dependent on the amount and identity of each constituent, and the composition of the aqueous overlayer in contact with the bilayer. We report on fluorescence anisotropy decay imaging measurements of a rhodamine chromophore tethered to the headgroup of a phosphoethanolamine, where anisotropy decay images were acquired as a function of solution overlayer pH and ionic strength. The data reveal a two-component anisotropy decay under all conditions, with the faster time constant being largely independent of pH and ionic strength and the slower component depending on pH and ionic strength in different manners. For liposomes of the same composition, a single exponential anisotropy decay was seen. We interpret this difference in terms of bilayer curvature and support surface-bilayer interactions, and the pH and ionic strength dependencies in terms of ionic screening and protonation in the bilayer headgroup region.

  4. Probing Lipid Bilayers under Ionic Imbalance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Jiaqi; Alexander-Katz, Alfredo

    2016-12-06

    Biological membranes are normally under a resting transmembrane potential (TMP), which originates from the ionic imbalance between extracellular fluids and cytosols, and serves as electric power storage for cells. In cell electroporation, the ionic imbalance builds up a high TMP, resulting in the poration of cell membranes. However, the relationship between ionic imbalance and TMP is not clearly understood, and little is known about the effect of ionic imbalance on the structure and dynamics of biological membranes. In this study, we used coarse-grained molecular dynamics to characterize a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer system under ionic imbalances ranging from 0 to ∼0.06 e charges per lipid (e/Lip). We found that the TMP displayed three distinct regimes: 1) a linear regime between 0 and 0.045 e/Lip, where the TMP increased linearly with ionic imbalance; 2) a yielding regime between ∼0.045 and 0.060 e/Lip, where the TMP displayed a plateau; and 3) a poration regime above ∼0.060 e/Lip, where we observed pore formation within the sampling time (80 ns). We found no structural changes in the linear regime, apart from a nonlinear increase in the area per lipid, whereas in the yielding regime the bilayer exhibited substantial thinning, leading to an excess of water and Na + within the bilayer, as well as significant misalignment of the lipid tails. In the poration regime, lipid molecules diffused slightly faster. We also found that the fluid-to-gel phase transition temperature of the bilayer dropped below the normal value with increased ionic imbalances. Our results show that a high ionic imbalance can substantially alter the essential properties of the bilayer, making the bilayer more fluid like, or conversely, depolarization of a cell could in principle lead to membrane stiffening. Copyright © 2016 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Graphene Synthesis & Graphene/Polymer Nanocomposites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Ken-Hsuan

    We successfully developed a novel, fast, hydrazine-free, high-yield method for producing single-layered graphene. Graphene sheets were formed from graphite oxide by reduction with de-ionized water at 130 ºC. Over 65% of the sheets are single graphene layers. A dehydration reaction of exfoliated graphene oxide was utilized to reduce oxygen and transform C-C bonds from sp3 to sp2. The reduction appears to occur in large uniform interconnected oxygen-free patches so that despite the presence of residual oxygen the sp2 carbon bonds formed on the sheets are sufficient to provide electronic properties comparable to reduced graphene sheets obtained using other methods. Cytotoxicity of aqueous graphene was investigated with Dr. Yu-Shen Lin by measuring mitochondrial activity in adherent human skin fibroblasts using two assays. The methyl-thiazolyl-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, a typical nanotoxicity assay, fails to predict the toxicity of graphene oxide and graphene toxicity because of the spontaneous reduction of MTT by graphene and graphene oxide, resulting in a false positive signal. An appropriate alternate assessment, using the water soluble tetrazolium salt (WST-8) assay, reveals that the compacted graphene sheets are more damaging to mammalian fibroblasts than the less densely packed graphene oxide. Clearly, the toxicity of graphene and graphene oxide depends on the exposure environment (i.e. whether or not aggregation occurs) and mode of interaction with cells (i.e. suspension versus adherent cell types). Ultralow percolation concentration of 0.15 wt% graphene, as determined by surface resistance and modulus, was observed from in situ polymerized thermally reduced graphene (TRG)/ poly-urethane-acrylate (PUA) nanocomposite. A homogeneous dispersion of TRG in PUA was revealed by TEM images. The aspect ratio of dispersed TRG, calculated from percolation concentration and modulus, was found to be equivalent to the reported aspect ratio of single

  6. Effects of carotenoids on lipid bilayers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Quentin R; Mostofian, Barmak; Fuente Gomez, Gabriel; Smith, Jeremy C; Cheng, Xiaolin

    2018-01-31

    Carotenoids have been found to be important in improving the integrity of biomembranes in eukaryotes. However, the molecular details of how carotenoids modulate the physical properties of biomembranes are unknown. To this end, we have conducted a series of molecular dynamics simulations of different biologically-relevant membranes in the presence of carotenoids. The carotenoid effect on the membrane was found to be specific to the identity of the carotenoid and the composition of the membrane itself. Therefore, different classes of carotenoids produce a different effect on the membrane, and different membrane phases are affected differently by carotenoids. It is apparent from our data that carotenoids do trigger the bilayer to become thinner. The mechanism by which this occurs depends on two competing factors, the ability of the lipid tails of opposing monolayers to either (1) compress or (2) interdigitate as the bilayer condenses. Indeed, carotenoids directly influence the physical properties via these two mechanisms, thus compacting the bilayer. However, the degree to which these competing mechanisms are utilized depends on the bilayer phase and the carotenoid identity.

  7. Protein-Based Graphene Biosensors: Optimizing Artificial Chemoreception in Bilayer Lipid Membranes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christina G. Siontorou

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Proteinaceous moieties are critical elements in most detection systems, including biosensing platforms. Their potential is undoubtedly vast, yet many issues regarding their full exploitation remain unsolved. On the other hand, the biosensor formats with the higher marketability probabilities are enzyme in nature and electrochemical in concept. To no surprise, alternative materials for hosting catalysis within an electrode casing have received much attention lately to demonstrate a catalysis-coated device. Graphene and ZnO are presented as ideal materials to modify electrodes and biosensor platforms, especially in protein-based detection. Our group developed electrochemical sensors based on these nanomaterials for the sensitive detection of cholesterol using cholesterol oxidase incorporated in stabilized lipid films. A comparison between the two platforms is provided and discussed. In a broader sense, the not-so-remote prospect of quickly assembling a protein-based flexible biosensing detector to fulfill site-specific requirements is appealing to both university researchers and industry developers.

  8. Computer Simulations of Lipid Bilayers and Proteins

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sonne, Jacob

    2006-01-01

    The importance of computer simulations in lipid bilayer research has become more prominent for the last couple of decades and as computers get even faster, simulations will play an increasingly important part of understanding the processes that take place in and across cell membranes. This thesis...... entitled Computer simulations of lipid bilayers and proteins describes two molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies of pure lipid bilayers as well as a study of a transmembrane protein embedded in a lipid bilayer matrix. Below follows a brief overview of the thesis. Chapter 1. This chapter is a short...... in the succeeding chapters is presented. Details on system setups, simulation parameters and other technicalities can be found in the relevant chapters. Chapter 3, DPPC lipid parameters: The quality of MD simulations is intimately dependent on the empirical potential energy function and its parameters, i...

  9. Few-layer and symmetry-breaking effects on the electrical properties of ordered CF3Cl phases on graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morales-Cifuentes, Josue; Wang, Yilin; Reutt-Robey, Janice; Einstein, T. L.

    2014-03-01

    An effective pseudopotential mechanism for breaking the inherent sub-lattice symmetry of graphene has been studied using DFT calculations on hexagonal boron nitride. Electrical detection of CF3Cl phase transitions on graphene shows the existence of a commensurate ordered phase in which this can be tested. We study the electronic properties of this phase using VASP ver 5.3.3, with ab initio van der Waals density functionals (vdW-DF1 and vdW-DF2). Consistent with a physisorbed phase, binding energies and charge transfer per CF3Cl molecule are calculated to be on the order of 280meV and 0.01e, respectively. By exploring different coverages and orientations of this ordered phase we are able to open a band gap in some configurations; said gap is in the range of 8 to 80meV depending on the strength of the effective pseudopotential. Furthermore, we calculate the screening of these effects in bi-layer and tri-layer graphene. Work supported by NSF-MRSEC at UMD, grant DMR 05-20471 and NSF-CHE 13-05892.

  10. Superlubricating graphene and graphene oxide films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumant, Anirudha V.; Erdemir, Ali; Choi, Junho; Berman, Diana

    2018-02-13

    A system and method for forming at least one of graphene and graphene oxide on a substrate and an opposed wear member. The system includes graphene and graphene oxide formed by an exfoliation process or solution processing method to dispose graphene and/or graphene oxide onto a substrate. The system further includes an opposing wear member disposed on another substrate and a gas atmosphere of an inert gas like N2, ambient, a humid atmosphere and a water solution.

  11. Observation of undulation motion of lipid bilayers by neutron spin echo

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, Norifumi L.; Seto, Hideki; Hishida, Mafumi

    2010-01-01

    Aqueous solutions of synthesized phospholipids have been well investigated as model biomembranes. These lipids usually self-assemble into regular stacks of bilayers with a characteristic repeat distance on the order of nm, whereas real biomembrane exist as single bilayers. The key phenomenon in understanding the formation of single isolated bilayers in 'unbinding' of lipid bilayers, in which the inter-bilayer distance of lipid bilayers diverges by the steric interaction due to the membrane undulation. In this paper, we show some results of neutron spin-echo (NSE) experiments to investigate the effect of the steric interaction on unbinding and related phenomena. (author)

  12. Simulation studies of protein-induced bilayer deformations, and lipid-induced protein tilting, on a mesoscopic model for lipid bilayers with embedded proteins

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Venturoli, M.; Smit, B.; Sperotto, Maria Maddalena

    2005-01-01

    membranes. Here we present a mesoscopic model for lipid bilayers with embedded proteins, which we have studied with the help of the dissipative particle dynamics simulation technique. Because hydrophobic matching is believed to be one of the main physical mechanisms regulating lipid-protein interactions......-induced protein tilt, with the hydrophobic mismatch ( positive and negative) between the protein hydrophobic length and the pure lipid bilayer hydrophobic thickness. The protein-induced bilayer perturbation was quantified in terms of a coherence length, xi(P), of the lipid bilayer hydrophobic thickness pro. le...... for positive values of mismatch; a dependence on the protein size appears as well. In the case of large model proteins experiencing extreme mismatch conditions, in the region next to the so-called lipid annulus, there appears an undershooting ( or overshooting) region where the bilayer hydrophobic thickness...

  13. Promising applications of graphene and graphene-based nanostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Bich Ha; Hieu Nguyen, Van

    2016-06-01

    The present article is a review of research works on promising applications of graphene and graphene-based nanostructures. It contains five main scientific subjects. The first one is the research on graphene-based transparent and flexible conductive films for displays and electrodes: efficient method ensuring uniform and controllable deposition of reduced graphene oxide thin films over large areas, large-scale pattern growth of graphene films for stretchble transparent electrodes, utilization of graphene-based transparent conducting films and graphene oxide-based ones in many photonic and optoelectronic devices and equipments such as the window electrodes of inorganic, organic and dye-sensitized solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, light-emitting electrochemical cells, touch screens, flexible smart windows, graphene-based saturated absorbers in laser cavities for ultrafast generations, graphene-based flexible, transparent heaters in automobile defogging/deicing systems, heatable smart windows, graphene electrodes for high-performance organic field-effect transistors, flexible and transparent acoustic actuators and nanogenerators etc. The second scientific subject is the research on conductive inks for printed electronics to revolutionize the electronic industry by producing cost-effective electronic circuits and sensors in very large quantities: preparing high mobility printable semiconductors, low sintering temperature conducting inks, graphene-based ink by liquid phase exfoliation of graphite in organic solutions, and developing inkjet printing technique for mass production of high-quality graphene patterns with high resolution and for fabricating a variety of good-performance electronic devices, including transparent conductors, embedded resistors, thin-film transistors and micro supercapacitors. The third scientific subject is the research on graphene-based separation membranes: molecular dynamics simulation study on the mechanisms of the transport of

  14. The Hide-and-Seek of Grain Boundaries from Moiré Pattern Fringe of Two-Dimensional Graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jung Hwa; Kim, Kwanpyo; Lee, Zonghoon

    2015-01-01

    Grain boundaries (GBs) commonly exist in crystalline materials and affect various properties of materials. The facile identification of GBs is one of the significant requirements for systematical study of polycrystalline materials including recently emerging two-dimensional materials. Previous observations of GBs have been performed by various tools including high resolution transmission electron microscopy. However, a method to easily identify GBs, especially in the case of low-angle GBs, has not yet been well established. In this paper, we choose graphene bilayers with a GB as a model system and investigate the effects of interlayer rotations to the identification of GBs. We provide a critical condition between adjacent moiré fringe spacings, which determines the possibility of GB recognition. In addition, for monolayer graphene with a grain boundary, we demonstrate that low-angle GBs can be distinguished easily by inducing moiré patterns deliberately with an artificial reference overlay. PMID:26216628

  15. Reexamination of basal plane thermal conductivity of suspended graphene samples measured by electro-thermal micro-bridge methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Insun Jo

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Thermal transport in suspended graphene samples has been measured in prior works and this work with the use of a suspended electro-thermal micro-bridge method. These measurement results are analyzed here to evaluate and eliminate the errors caused by the extrinsic thermal contact resistance. It is noted that the room-temperature thermal resistance measured in a recent work increases linearly with the suspended length of the single-layer graphene samples synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD, and that such a feature does not reveal the failure of Fourier’s law despite the increase in the reported apparent thermal conductivity with length. The re-analyzed apparent thermal conductivity of a single-layer CVD graphene sample reaches about 1680 ± 180 W m−1 K−1 at room temperature, which is close to the highest value reported for highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. In comparison, the apparent thermal conductivity values measured for two suspended exfoliated bi-layer graphene samples are about 880 ± 60 and 730 ± 60 Wm−1K−1 at room temperature, and approach that of the natural graphite source above room temperature. However, the low-temperature thermal conductivities of these suspended graphene samples are still considerably lower than the graphite values, with the peak thermal conductivities shifted to much higher temperatures. Analysis of the thermal conductivity data reveals that the low temperature behavior is dominated by phonon scattering by polymer residue instead of by the lateral boundary.

  16. Fragmented state of lipid bilayers in water

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Helfrich, W.; Thimmel, J.; Klösgen, Beate Maria

    1999-01-01

    The bilayers of some typical biological membrane lipids such as PC and DGDG disintegrate in a large excess of water to form an optically invisible dispersive bilayer phase. `Dark bodies' can be reversibly precipitated from it by raising the temperature. The dispersive phase probably consists...

  17. Cluster Formation of Polyphilic Molecules Solvated in a DPPC Bilayer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang-Yang Guo

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available We analyse the initial stages of cluster formation of polyphilic additive molecules which are solvated in a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC lipid bilayer. Our polyphilic molecules comprise an aromatic (trans-bilayer core domain with (out-of-bilayer glycerol terminations, complemented with a fluorophilic and an alkyl side chain, both of which are confined within the aliphatic segment of the bilayer. Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations (1 μ s total duration of a set of six of such polyphilic additives reveal the initial steps towards supramolecular aggregation induced by the specific philicity properties of the molecules. For our intermediate system size of six polyphiles, the transient but recurrent formation of a trimer is observed on a characteristic timescale of about 100 ns. The alkane/perfluoroalkane side chains show a very distinct conformational distribution inside the bilayer thanks to their different philicity, despite their identical anchoring in the trans-bilayer segment of the polyphile. The diffusive mobility of the polyphilic additives is about the same as that of the surrounding lipids, although it crosses both bilayer leaflets and tends to self-associate.

  18. Characterization of the transverse relaxation rates in lipid bilayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watnick, P.I.; Dea, P.; Chan, S.I.

    1990-01-01

    The 2H NMR transverse relaxation rates of a deuterated phospholipid bilayer reflect slow motions in the bilayer membrane. A study of dimyristoyl lecithin specifically deuterated at several positions of the hydrocarbon chains indicates that these motions are cooperative and are confined to the hydrocarbon chains of the lipid bilayer. However, lipid head group interactions do play an important role in modulating the properties of the cooperative fluctuations of the hydrocarbon chains (director fluctuations), as evidenced by the effects of various lipid additives on the 2H NMR transverse relaxation rates of the dimyristoyl lecithin bilayer

  19. DNA nanotechnology: Bringing lipid bilayers into shape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howorka, Stefan

    2017-07-01

    Lipid bilayers form the thin and floppy membranes that define the boundary of compartments such as cells. Now, a method to control the shape and size of bilayers using DNA nanoscaffolds has been developed. Such designer materials advance synthetic biology and could find use in membrane research.

  20. Regulation of membrane protein function by lipid bilayer elasticity-a single molecule technology to measure the bilayer properties experienced by an embedded protein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lundbaek, Jens August

    2006-01-01

    Membrane protein function is generally regulated by the molecular composition of the host lipid bilayer. The underlying mechanisms have long remained enigmatic. Some cases involve specific molecular interactions, but very often lipids and other amphiphiles, which are adsorbed to lipid bilayers, regulate a number of structurally unrelated proteins in an apparently non-specific manner. It is well known that changes in the physical properties of a lipid bilayer (e.g., thickness or monolayer spontaneous curvature) can affect the function of an embedded protein. However, the role of such changes, in the general regulation of membrane protein function, is unclear. This is to a large extent due to lack of a generally accepted framework in which to understand the many observations. The present review summarizes studies which have demonstrated that the hydrophobic interactions between a membrane protein and the host lipid bilayer provide an energetic coupling, whereby protein function can be regulated by the bilayer elasticity. The feasibility of this 'hydrophobic coupling mechanism' has been demonstrated using the gramicidin channel, a model membrane protein, in planar lipid bilayers. Using voltage-dependent sodium channels, N-type calcium channels and GABA A receptors, it has been shown that membrane protein function in living cells can be regulated by amphiphile induced changes in bilayer elasticity. Using the gramicidin channel as a molecular force transducer, a nanotechnology to measure the elastic properties experienced by an embedded protein has been developed. A theoretical and technological framework, to study the regulation of membrane protein function by lipid bilayer elasticity, has been established

  1. Graphene device and method of using graphene device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouchiat, Vincent; Girit, Caglar; Kessler, Brian; Zettl, Alexander K.

    2015-08-11

    An embodiment of a graphene device includes a layered structure, first and second electrodes, and a dopant island. The layered structure includes a conductive layer, an insulating layer, and a graphene layer. The electrodes are coupled to the graphene layer. The dopant island is coupled to an exposed surface of the graphene layer between the electrodes. An embodiment of a method of using a graphene device includes providing the graphene device. A voltage is applied to the conductive layer of the graphene device. Another embodiment of a method of using a graphene device includes providing the graphene device without the dopant island. A dopant island is placed on an exposed surface of the graphene layer between the electrodes. A voltage is applied to the conductive layer of the graphene device. A response of the dopant island to the voltage is observed.

  2. Synthesis of Bilayer Graphene on 90/10 Copper (Cu)/Nickel (Ni) Alloy and Transfer by Electrochemical Delamination

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-09-01

    by Eugene Zakar and Madan Dubey Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, ARL Robert Burke General Technical Services, LLC, Wall, NJ...isopropyl alcohol . The metal thin films deposited on SiO2/Si substrates were not cleaned prior to graphene growth. After cleaning, the samples were

  3. A NEW NONPLANETARY INTERPRETATION OF THE MICROLENSING EVENT OGLE-2013-BLG-0723

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, Cheongho; Jung, Youn Kil [Department of Physics, Institute for Astrophysics, Chungbuk National University, 371-763 Cheongju (Korea, Republic of); Bennett, David P. [Code 667, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Udalski, Andrzej [Warsaw University Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa (Poland)

    2016-07-01

    Recently, the discovery of a Venus-mass planet orbiting a brown-dwarf host in a binary system was reported from the analysis of the microlensing event OGLE-2013-BLG-0723. We reanalyze the event considering the possibility of other interpretations. From this, we find a new solution where the lens is composed of two bodies, in contrast to the three-body solution of the previous analysis. The new solution better explains the observed light curve than the previous solution with Δ χ {sup 2} ∼ 202, suggesting that the new solution is a correct model for the event. From the estimation of the physical parameters based on the new interpretation, we find that the lens system is composed of two low-mass stars with ∼0.2 M {sub ⊙} and ∼0.1 M {sub ⊙} and located at a distance of ∼3 kpc. The fact that the physical parameters correspond to those of the most common lens population located at a distance with a large lensing probability further supports the likelihood of the new interpretation. Considering that two dramatically different solutions can approximately explain the observed light curve, the event suggests the need for carefully testing all possible lens-system geometries.

  4. Lipid Bilayer Formation on Organic Electronic Materials

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Yi

    2018-04-23

    The lipid bilayer is the elemental structure of cell membrane, forming a stable barrier between the interior and exterior of the cell while hosting membrane proteins that enable selective transport of biologically important compounds and cellular recognition. Monitoring the quality and function of lipid bilayers is thus essential and can be performed using electrically active substrates that allow for transduction of signals. Such a promising electronic transducer material is the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) which has provided a plethora of novel bio transducing architectures. The challenge is however in assembling a bilayer on the conducting polymer surface, which is defect-free and has high mobility. Herein, we investigate the fusion of zwitterionic vesicles on a variety of PEDOT:PSS films, but also on an electron transporting, negatively charged organic semiconductor, in order to understand the surface properties that trigger vesicle fusion. The PEDOT:PSS films are prepared from dispersions containing different concentrations of ethylene glycol included as a formulation additive, which gives a handle to modulate surface physicochemical properties without a compromise on the chemical composition. The strong correlation between the polarity of the surface, the fusion of vesicles and the mobility of the resulting bilayer aides extracting design principles for the development of future conducting polymers that will enable the formation of lipid bilayers.

  5. Interface and interaction of graphene layers on SiC(0001[combining macron]) covered with TiC(111) intercalation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lu; Wang, Qiang; Huang, Jianmei; Li, Wei-Qi; Chen, Guang-Hui; Yang, Yanhui

    2017-10-11

    It is important to understand the interface and interaction between the graphene layer, titanium carbide [TiC(111)] interlayer, and silicon carbide [SiC(0001[combining macron])] substrates in epitaxial growth of graphene on silicon carbide (SiC) substrates. In this study, the fully relaxed interfaces which consist of up to three layers of TiC(111) coatings on the SiC(0001[combining macron]) as well as the graphene layers interactions with these TiC(111)/SiC(0001[combining macron]) were systematically studied using the density functional theory-D2 (DFT-D2) method. The results showed that the two layers of TiC(111) coating with the C/C-terminated interfaces were thermodynamically more favorable than one or three layers of TiC(111) on the SiC(0001[combining macron]). Furthermore, the bonding of the Ti-hollow-site stacked interfaces would be a stronger link than that of the Ti-Fcc-site stacked interfaces. However, the formation of the C/Ti/C and Ti/C interfaces implied that the first upper carbon layer can be formed on TiC(111)/SiC(0001[combining macron]) using the decomposition of the weaker Ti-C and C-Si interfacial bonds. When growing graphene layers on these TiC(111)/SiC(0001[combining macron]) substrates, the results showed that the interaction energy depended not only on the thickness of the TiC(111) interlayer, but also on the number of graphene layers. Bilayer graphene on the two layer thick TiC(111)/SiC(0001[combining macron]) was thermodynamically more favorable than a monolayer or trilayer graphene on these TiC(111)/SiC(0001[combining macron]) substrates. The adsorption energies of the bottom graphene layers with the TiC(111)/SiC(0001[combining macron]) substrates increased with the decrease of the interface vertical distance. The interaction energies between the bottom, second and third layers of graphene on the TiC(111)/SiC(0001[combining macron]) were significantly higher than that of the freestanding graphene layers. All of these findings provided

  6. In situ atomic force microscope imaging of supported lipid bilayers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaasgaard, Thomas; Leidy, Chad; Ipsen, John Hjorth

    2001-01-01

    In situ AFM images of phospholipase A/sub 2/ (PLA/sub 2/) hydrolysis of mica-supported one- and two-component lipid bilayers are presented. For one-component DPPC bilayers an enhanced enzymatic activity is observed towards preexisting defects in the bilayer. Phase separation is observed in two-co...

  7. Bifurcation of self-folded polygonal bilayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdullah, Arif M.; Braun, Paul V.; Hsia, K. Jimmy

    2017-09-01

    Motivated by the self-assembly of natural systems, researchers have investigated the stimulus-responsive curving of thin-shell structures, which is also known as self-folding. Self-folding strategies not only offer possibilities to realize complicated shapes but also promise actuation at small length scales. Biaxial mismatch strain driven self-folding bilayers demonstrate bifurcation of equilibrium shapes (from quasi-axisymmetric doubly curved to approximately singly curved) during their stimulus-responsive morphing behavior. Being a structurally instable, bifurcation could be used to tune the self-folding behavior, and hence, a detailed understanding of this phenomenon is appealing from both fundamental and practical perspectives. In this work, we investigated the bifurcation behavior of self-folding bilayer polygons. For the mechanistic understanding, we developed finite element models of planar bilayers (consisting of a stimulus-responsive and a passive layer of material) that transform into 3D curved configurations. Our experiments with cross-linked Polydimethylsiloxane samples that change shapes in organic solvents confirmed our model predictions. Finally, we explored a design scheme to generate gripper-like architectures by avoiding the bifurcation of stimulus-responsive bilayers. Our research contributes to the broad field of self-assembly as the findings could motivate functional devices across multiple disciplines such as robotics, artificial muscles, therapeutic cargos, and reconfigurable biomedical devices.

  8. Magnetic flux distributions in chiral helimagnet/superconductor bilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kato, Masaru, E-mail: kato@ms.osakafu-u.ac.jp [Department of Mathematical Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1, Gakuencho, Nakaku, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531 (Japan); Fukui, Saoto [Department of Mathematical Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1, Gakuencho, Nakaku, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531 (Japan); Sato, Osamu [Osaka Prefecture University College of Technology, 26-12, Saiwaicho, Neyagawa, Osaka 572-8572 (Japan); Togawa, Yoshihiko [Department of Physics and Electronics, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1, Gakuencho, Nakaku, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531 (Japan)

    2017-02-15

    Highlights: • Vortex states in a chiral helimagnet/superconductor bilayer are investigated. • Vortex and anti-vortex appears depending on strength of helimagnet. • Vortex is elongated under a gradient field. • Vortices form a undulated triangular lattice. - Abstarct: Vortex states in a chiral helimagnet/superconductor bilayer are investigated numerically, using the Ginzburg–Landau equations with the finite element method. In this bilayer, effect of the chiral helimagnet on the superconductor is taken as an external field. Magnetic field distribution can be controlled by an applied field to the bilayer. It is shown that a single vortex in a gradient field is elongated along the field gradient. In zero applied field, there are up- and down vortices which are parallel or antiparallel to the z-axis, respectively. But increasing the applied field, down-vortices disappear and up-vortices form undulated triangular lattices.

  9. Interfacial exciplex formation in bilayers of conjugated polymers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nobuyasu, R. S.; Araujo, K. A. S.; Cury, L. A.; Jarrosson, T.; Serein-Spirau, F.; Lère-Porte, J.-P.; Dias, F. B.; Monkman, A. P.

    2013-10-01

    The donor-acceptor interactions in sequential bilayer and blend films are investigated. Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) were measured to characterize the samples at different geometries of photoluminescence collection. At standard excitation, with the laser incidence at 45° of the normal direction of the sample surface, a band related to the aggregate states of donor molecules appears for both blend and bilayer at around 540 nm. For the PL spectra acquired from the edge of the bilayer, with the laser incidence made at normal direction of the sample surface (90° geometry), a new featureless band emission, red-shifted from donor and acceptor emission regions was observed and assigned as the emission from interfacial exciplex states. The conformational complexity coming from donor/acceptor interactions at the heterojunction interface of the bilayer is at the origin of this interfacial exciplex emission.

  10. Nanotoxicity of graphene and graphene oxide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seabra, Amedea B; Paula, Amauri J; de Lima, Renata; Alves, Oswaldo L; Durán, Nelson

    2014-02-17

    Graphene and its derivatives are promising candidates for important biomedical applications because of their versatility. The prospective use of graphene-based materials in a biological context requires a detailed comprehension of the toxicity of these materials. Moreover, due to the expanding applications of nanotechnology, human and environmental exposures to graphene-based nanomaterials are likely to increase in the future. Because of the potential risk factors associated with the manufacture and use of graphene-related materials, the number of nanotoxicological studies of these compounds has been increasing rapidly in the past decade. These studies have researched the effects of the nanostructural/biological interactions on different organizational levels of the living system, from biomolecules to animals. This review discusses recent results based on in vitro and in vivo cytotoxicity and genotoxicity studies of graphene-related materials and critically examines the methodologies employed to evaluate their toxicities. The environmental impact from the manipulation and application of graphene materials is also reported and discussed. Finally, this review presents mechanistic aspects of graphene toxicity in biological systems. More detailed studies aiming to investigate the toxicity of graphene-based materials and to properly associate the biological phenomenon with their chemical, structural, and morphological variations that result from several synthetic and processing possibilities are needed. Knowledge about graphene-based materials could ensure the safe application of this versatile material. Consequently, the focus of this review is to provide a source of inspiration for new nanotoxicological approaches for graphene-based materials.

  11. Epitaxial-graphene/graphene-oxide junction: an essential step towards epitaxial graphene electronics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xiaosong; Sprinkle, Mike; Li, Xuebin; Ming, Fan; Berger, Claire; de Heer, Walt A

    2008-07-11

    Graphene-oxide (GO) flakes have been deposited to bridge the gap between two epitaxial-graphene electrodes to produce all-graphene devices. Electrical measurements indicate the presence of Schottky barriers at the graphene/graphene-oxide junctions, as a consequence of the band gap in GO. The barrier height is found to be about 0.7 eV, and is reduced after annealing at 180 degrees C, implying that the gap can be tuned by changing the degree of oxidation. A lower limit of the GO mobility was found to be 850 cm2/V s, rivaling silicon. In situ local oxidation of patterned epitaxial graphene has been achieved.

  12. Spin Hall magnetoresistance in antiferromagnet/normal metal bilayers

    KAUST Repository

    Manchon, Aurelien

    2017-01-01

    We investigate the emergence of spin Hall magnetoresistance in a magnetic bilayer composed of a normal metal adjacent to an antiferromagnet. Based on a recently derived drift diffusion equation, we show that the resistance of the bilayer depends on the relative angle between the direction transverse to the current flow and the Néel order parameter. While this effect presents striking similarities with the spin Hall magnetoresistance recently reported in ferromagnetic bilayers, its physical origin is attributed to the anisotropic spin relaxation of itinerant spins in the antiferromagnet.

  13. Electrostatic double-layer interaction between stacked charged bilayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hishida, Mafumi; Nomura, Yoko; Akiyama, Ryo; Yamamura, Yasuhisa; Saito, Kazuya

    2017-10-01

    The inapplicability of the DLVO theory to multilayered anionic bilayers is found in terms of the co-ion-valence dependence of the lamellar repeat distance. Most of the added salt is expelled from the interlamellar space to the bulk due to the Gibbs-Donnan effect on multiple bilayers with the bulk. The electrostatic double-layer interaction is well expressed by the formula recently proposed by Trefalt. The osmotic pressure due to the expelled ions, rather than the van der Waals interaction, is the main origin of the attractive force between the bilayers.

  14. Magnetically assisted bilayer composites for soft bending actuators

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jang, S.H.; Na, Seon Hong; Park, Yong Lae

    2017-01-01

    This article presents a soft pneumatic bending actuator using a magnetically assisted bilayer composite composed of silicone polymer and ferromagnetic particles. Bilayer composites were fabricated by mixing ferromagnetic particles to a prepolymer state of silicone in a mold and asymmetrically

  15. Predicting proton titration in cationic micelle and bilayer environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrow, Brian H.; Eike, David M.; Murch, Bruce P.; Koenig, Peter H.; Shen, Jana K.

    2014-08-01

    Knowledge of the protonation behavior of pH-sensitive molecules in micelles and bilayers has significant implications in consumer product development and biomedical applications. However, the calculation of pKa's in such environments proves challenging using traditional structure-based calculations. Here we apply all-atom constant pH molecular dynamics with explicit ions and titratable water to calculate the pKa of a fatty acid molecule in a micelle of dodecyl trimethylammonium chloride and liquid as well as gel-phase bilayers of diethyl ester dimethylammonium chloride. Interestingly, the pKa of the fatty acid in the gel bilayer is 5.4, 0.4 units lower than that in the analogous liquid bilayer or micelle, despite the fact that the protonated carboxylic group is significantly more desolvated in the gel bilayer. This work illustrates the capability of all-atom constant pH molecular dynamics in capturing the delicate balance in the free energies of desolvation and Coulombic interactions. It also shows the importance of the explicit treatment of ions in sampling the protonation states. The ability to model dynamics of pH-responsive substrates in a bilayer environment is useful for improving fabric care products as well as our understanding of the side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs.

  16. Predicting proton titration in cationic micelle and bilayer environments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morrow, Brian H.; Shen, Jana K. [Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland 21201 (United States); Eike, David M.; Murch, Bruce P.; Koenig, Peter H. [Computational Chemistry, Modeling and Simulation GCO, Procter and Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio 45201 (United States)

    2014-08-28

    Knowledge of the protonation behavior of pH-sensitive molecules in micelles and bilayers has significant implications in consumer product development and biomedical applications. However, the calculation of pK{sub a}’s in such environments proves challenging using traditional structure-based calculations. Here we apply all-atom constant pH molecular dynamics with explicit ions and titratable water to calculate the pK{sub a} of a fatty acid molecule in a micelle of dodecyl trimethylammonium chloride and liquid as well as gel-phase bilayers of diethyl ester dimethylammonium chloride. Interestingly, the pK{sub a} of the fatty acid in the gel bilayer is 5.4, 0.4 units lower than that in the analogous liquid bilayer or micelle, despite the fact that the protonated carboxylic group is significantly more desolvated in the gel bilayer. This work illustrates the capability of all-atom constant pH molecular dynamics in capturing the delicate balance in the free energies of desolvation and Coulombic interactions. It also shows the importance of the explicit treatment of ions in sampling the protonation states. The ability to model dynamics of pH-responsive substrates in a bilayer environment is useful for improving fabric care products as well as our understanding of the side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs.

  17. Poly(amidoamine) dendrimers on lipid bilayers II: Effects of bilayer phase and dendrimer termination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Christopher V; Leroueil, Pascale R; Orr, Bradford G; Banaszak Holl, Mark M; Andricioaei, Ioan

    2008-08-07

    The molecular structures and enthalpy release of poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers binding to 1,2-dimyristoyl- sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) bilayers were explored through atomistic molecular dynamics. Three PAMAM dendrimer terminations were examined: protonated primary amine, neutral acetamide, and deprotonated carboxylic acid. Fluid and gel lipid phases were examined to extract the effects of lipid tail mobility on the binding of generation-3 dendrimers, which are directly relevant to the nanoparticle interactions involving lipid rafts, endocytosis, lipid removal, and/or membrane pores. Upon binding to gel phase lipids, dendrimers remained spherical, had a constant radius of gyration, and approximately one-quarter of the terminal groups were in close proximity to the lipids. In contrast, upon binding to fluid phase bilayers, dendrimers flattened out with a large increase in their asphericity and radii of gyration. Although over twice as many dendrimer-lipid contacts were formed on fluid versus gel phase lipids, the dendrimer-lipid interaction energy was only 20% stronger. The greatest enthalpy release upon binding was between the charged dendrimers and the lipid bilayer. However, the stronger binding to fluid versus gel phase lipids was driven by the hydrophobic interactions between the inner dendrimer and lipid tails.

  18. SFG studies on interactions between antimicrobial peptides and supported lipid bilayers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xiaoyun; Chen, Zhan

    2006-09-01

    The mode of action of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in disrupting cell membrane bilayers is of fundamental importance in understanding the efficiency of different AMPs, which is crucial to design antibiotics with improved properties. Recent developments in the field of sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy have made it a powerful and unique biophysical technique in investigating the interactions between AMPs and a single substrate supported planar lipid bilayer. We will review some of the recent progress in applying SFG to study membrane lipid bilayers and discuss how SFG can provide novel information such as real-time bilayer structure change and AMP orientation during AMP-lipid bilayer interactions in a very biologically relevant manner. Several examples of applying SFG to monitor such interactions between AMPs and a dipalmitoyl phosphatidylglycerol (DPPG) bilayer are presented. Different modes of actions are observed for melittin, tachyplesin I, d-magainin 2, MSI-843, and a synthetic antibacterial oligomer, demonstrating that SFG is very effective in the study of AMPs and AMP-lipid bilayer interactions.

  19. Graphene-based structure, method of suspending graphene membrane, and method of depositing material onto graphene membrane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zettl, Alexander K.; Meyer, Jannik Christian

    2013-04-02

    An embodiment of a method of suspending a graphene membrane across a gap in a support structure includes attaching graphene to a substrate. A pre-fabricated support structure having the gap is attached to the graphene. The graphene and the pre-fabricated support structure are then separated from the substrate which leaves the graphene membrane suspended across the gap in the pre-fabricated support structure. An embodiment of a method of depositing material includes placing a support structure having a graphene membrane suspended across a gap under vacuum. A precursor is adsorbed to a surface of the graphene membrane. A portion of the graphene membrane is exposed to a focused electron beam which deposits a material from the precursor onto the graphene membrane. An embodiment of a graphene-based structure includes a support structure having a gap, a graphene membrane suspended across the gap, and a material deposited in a pattern on the graphene membrane.

  20. Alpha-tocopherol inhibits pore formation in oxidized bilayers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boonnoy, P.; Karttunen, M.; Wong-Ekkabut, J.

    2017-01-01

    In biological membranes, alpha-tocopherols (α-toc; vitamin E) protect polyunsaturated lipids from free radicals. Although the interactions of α-toc with non-oxidized lipid bilayers have been studied, their effects on oxidized bilayers remain unknown. In this study, atomistic molecular dynamics (MD)

  1. Slaved diffusion in phospholipid bilayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Liangfang; Granick, Steve

    2005-01-01

    The translational diffusion of phospholipids in supported fluid bilayers splits into two populations when polyelectrolytes adsorb at incomplete surface coverage. Spatially resolved measurements using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy show that a slow mode, whose magnitude scales inversely with the degree of polymerization of the adsorbate, coexists with a fast mode characteristic of naked lipid diffusion. Inner and outer leaflets of the bilayer are affected nearly equally. Mobility may vary from spot to spot on the membrane surface, despite the lipid composition being the same. This work offers a mechanism to explain how nanosized domains with reduced mobility arise in lipid membranes. PMID:15967988

  2. Tunneling Spectroscopy Studies of Epitaxial Graphene on Silicon Carbide(0001) and Its Interfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandin, Andreas Axel Tomas

    A two dimensional network of sp2 bonded carbon atoms is defined as graphene. This novel material possesses remarkable electronic properties due to its unique band structure at the vicinity of the Fermi energy. The toughest challenge to bring use of graphene electronic properties in device geometries is that graphene is exceptionally sensitive to its electrical environment for integration into macroscopic system of electrical contacts and substrates. One of the most promising substrates for graphene is the polar surfaces of SiC for the reason it can be grown epitaxially by sublimating Si from the top-most SiC atomic layers. In this work, the interfaces of graphene grown on the Si-terminated polar surface SiC(0001) is studied in UHV using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and auger electron Spectroscopy (AES). STM is used image the graphene surface and interfaces with the capability of atomic resolution. LEED is used to study surface atomic reciprocal ordering and AES is used to determine surface atomic composition during the graphene formation. Interfacial layer (Buffer layer), Single layer graphene and bilayer graphene are identified electronically by means of probing the first member of the image potential derived state. This state is found by dZ/dV spectroscopy in the high energy unoccupied states and is exceptionally sensitive to electrostatic changes to the surface which is detected by energy shifts of image potential states (IPS). This sensitivity is utilized to probe the graphene screening of external electric fields by varying the electric field in the tunneling junction and addresses the fact that charged impurity scattering is likely to be crucial for epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) when it comes to transport parameters. Shifts of IPS energy position has also been used verify work function changes for identification of several Sodium Intercalation structures of epitaxial

  3. GABA_A receptor function is regulated by lipid bilayer elasticity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Søgaard, Rikke; Werge, Thomas; Berthelsen, Camilla

    2006-01-01

    ( s) underlying these effects are poorly understood. DHA and Triton X-100, at concentrations that affect GABAA receptor function, increase the elasticity of lipid bilayers measured as decreased bilayer stiffness using gramicidin channels as molecular force transducers. We have previously shown...... reduced the peak amplitude of the GABA-induced currents and increased the rate of receptor desensitization. The effects of the amphiphiles did not correlate with the expected changes in monolayer spontaneous curvature. We conclude that GABAA receptor function is regulated by lipid bilayer elasticity....... PUFAs may generally regulate membrane protein function by affecting the elasticity of the host lipid bilayer....

  4. Lipid peroxidation and water penetration in lipid bilayers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Conte, Elena; Megli, Francesco Maria; Khandelia, Himanshu

    2012-01-01

    to the hydroperoxide groups to interact with the nitroxide at the methyl-terminal, confirming that the H-bonds experimentally observed are due to increased water penetration in the bilayer. The EPR and MD data on model membranes demonstrate that cell membrane damage by oxidative stress cause alteration of water......(zz) parameters revealed that OHPLPC, but mostly HpPLPC, induced a measurable increase in polarity and H-bonding propensity in the central region of the bilayer. Molecular dynamics simulation performed on 16-DSA in the PLPC-HpPLPC bilayer revealed that water molecules are statistically favored with respect...

  5. Graphene transfer process and optimization of graphene coverage

    OpenAIRE

    Sabki Syarifah Norfaezah; Shamsuri Shafiq Hafly; Fauzi Siti Fazlina; Chon-Ki Meghashama Lim; Othman Noraini

    2017-01-01

    Graphene grown on transition metal is known to be high in quality due to its controlled amount of defects and potentially used for many electronic applications. The transfer process of graphene grown on transition metal to a new substrate requires optimization in order to ensure that high graphene coverage can be obtained. In this work, an improvement in the graphene transfer process is performed from graphene grown on copper foil. It has been observed that the graphene coverage is affected b...

  6. Comment on "Theoretical study of the dynamics of atomic hydrogen adsorbed on graphene multilayers"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonfanti, Matteo; Martinazzo, Rocco

    2018-03-01

    It is shown that the theoretical prediction of a transient magnetization in bilayer and multilayer graphene (M. Moaied et al., Phys. Rev. B 91, 155419 (2015), 10.1103/PhysRevB.91.155419) relies on an incorrect physical scenario for adsorption, namely, one in which H atoms adsorb barrierless on graphitic substrates and form a random adsorption pattern of monomers. Rather, according to experimental evidence, H atom sticking is an activated process, and adsorption is under kinetic control, largely ruled by a preferential sticking mechanism that leads to stable, nonmagnetic dimers at all but the smallest coverages (Theory and experiments are reconciled by reconsidering the hydrogen atom adsorption energetics with the help of van der Waals-inclusive density functional calculations that properly account for the basis set superposition error. It is shown that today van der Waals-density functional theory predicts a shallow physisorption well that nicely agrees with available experimental data and suggests that the hydrogen atom adsorption barrier in graphene is 180 meV high, within ˜5 meV accuracy.

  7. Strain, stabilities and electronic properties of hexagonal BN bilayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujimoto, Yoshitaka; Saito, Susumu

    Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) atomic layers have been regarded as fascinating materials both scientifically and technologically due to the sizable band gap. This sizable band-gap nature of the h-BN atomic layers would provide not only new physical properties but also novel nano- and/or opto-electronics applications. Here, we study the first-principles density-functional study that clarifies the biaxial strain effects on the energetics and the electronic properties of h-BN bilayers. We show that the band gaps of the h-BN bilayers are tunable by applying strains. Furthermore, we show that the biaxial strains can produce a transition from indirect to direct band gaps of the h-BN bilayer. We also discuss that both AA and AB stacking patterns of h-BN bilayer become feasible structures because h-BN bilayers possess two different directions in the stacking patterns. Supported by MEXT Elements Strategy Initiative to Form Core Research Center through Tokodai Institute for Element Strategy, JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP26390062 and JP25107005.

  8. Nanoscale measurements of unoccupied band dispersion in few-layer graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jobst, Johannes; Kautz, Jaap; Geelen, Daniël; Tromp, Rudolf M; van der Molen, Sense Jan

    2015-11-26

    The properties of any material are fundamentally determined by its electronic band structure. Each band represents a series of allowed states inside a material, relating electron energy and momentum. The occupied bands, that is, the filled electron states below the Fermi level, can be routinely measured. However, it is remarkably difficult to characterize the empty part of the band structure experimentally. Here, we present direct measurements of unoccupied bands of monolayer, bilayer and trilayer graphene. To obtain these, we introduce a technique based on low-energy electron microscopy. It relies on the dependence of the electron reflectivity on incidence angle and energy and has a spatial resolution ∼10 nm. The method can be easily applied to other nanomaterials such as van der Waals structures that are available in small crystals only.

  9. Synthesis and Applications of Large Area Graphene-Based Electrode Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, Rajat Kanti

    Graphene is a single sheet of carbon atoms with outstanding electrical and physical properties and being exploited for applications in electronics, sensors, fuel cells, photovoltaics and energy storage. However, practical designs of graphene-based electrode systems and related experimental implementations are required to realize their widespread applications in nano- to bioelectronics. In this dissertation, different graphene-based electrode systems having metallic and semiconducting properties are synthesized optimizing process conditions. Also realized is the potential of the fabricated electrode systems by applying them in practical applications such as sensor devices and fuel cells. The zero bandgap of semimetal graphene still limits its application as an effective field-effect transistor device or a chemiresistor sensor operating at room temperature. It has been shown theoretically and experimentally that graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) or nanomeshes (GNMs) can attain a bandgap that is large enough for a transistor device, and hence would show high sensitivity to various gaseous species or biomolecules. Large-area mono- and bilayer graphene films are synthesized by a simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique depending on the carbon precursors such as methane, acetylene and ethanol, and the results are compared using optical microscopy (OM), Raman spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A simple reactive ion etching (RIE) combined with well-established nanosphere lithography is performed on the synthesized CVD-grown monolayer graphene platform to fabricate large area GNMs with specific dimension and periodicity. The fabricated GNMs chemiresistor sensor devices show excellent sensitivity towards NO2 and NH 3, significantly higher than their film counterparts. The GNM sensor devices exhibit sensitivities of about 4.32%/ppm (parts-per-million) in NO 2 and 0.71%/ppm in NH3 with estimated

  10. Graphene and Graphene Metamaterials for Terahertz Absorbers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andryieuski, Andrei; Pizzocchero, Filippo; Booth, Tim

    2013-01-01

    Graphene, due to the possibility to tune its conductivity, is the promising material for a range of the terahertz (THz) applications, such as tunable reflectors, absorbers, modulators, filters and polarization converters. Subwavelength structuring of graphene in order to form metamaterials allows...... for even more control over the THz waves. In this poster presentation I will show an elegant way to describe the graphene metamaterials and the design of graphene based absorbers. I will also present our recent experimental results on the graphene absorbers characterization....

  11. Graphene and graphene oxide: biofunctionalization and applications in biotechnology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ying; Li, Zhaohui; Wang, Jun; Li, Jinghong; Lin, Yuehe

    2011-05-01

    Graphene is the basic building block of 0D fullerene, 1D carbon nanotubes, and 3D graphite. Graphene has a unique planar structure, as well as novel electronic properties, which have attracted great interests from scientists. This review selectively analyzes current advances in the field of graphene bioapplications. In particular, the biofunctionalization of graphene for biological applications, fluorescence-resonance-energy-transfer-based biosensor development by using graphene or graphene-based nanomaterials, and the investigation of graphene or graphene-based nanomaterials for living cell studies are summarized in more detail. Future perspectives and possible challenges in this rapidly developing area are also discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Ion beam mixing isotopic metal bilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fell, C.J. [Newcastle Univ., NSW (Australia). Dept. of Physics; Kenny, M.J. [CSIRO, Lindfield, NSW (Australia). Div. of Applied Physics

    1993-12-31

    In order to obtain an insight into the mechanisms of ion-solid interactions, bilayer targets can be prepared from two different isotopes. A mixing study SIMS is to be carried out using specially grown monocrystalline bilayers of {sup 58}Ni / {sup 60}Ni. An important aspect of the work is the preparation of high quality single-crystal thin films. The Ni layers will be grown on the (110) surface of pure Ni and verified for crystallinity using Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction and Rutherford Backscattering channelling analysis. The Pd bilayers will be grown on a Pd (100) surface. RHEED will be used to confirm the two-dimensional crystallinity of the surface before and after deposition of each layer, and channelling used to confirm bulk film crystallinity. Single crystal substrates are currently being prepared. Analysis of the Ni (110) surface using RHEED at 9 kV shows a streak spacing which corresponds to a lattice spacing of 2.47 {+-} 0.09 Angstroms. 9 refs., 1 fig.

  13. Ion beam mixing isotopic metal bilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fell, C J [Newcastle Univ., NSW (Australia). Dept. of Physics; Kenny, M J [CSIRO, Lindfield, NSW (Australia). Div. of Applied Physics

    1994-12-31

    In order to obtain an insight into the mechanisms of ion-solid interactions, bilayer targets can be prepared from two different isotopes. A mixing study SIMS is to be carried out using specially grown monocrystalline bilayers of {sup 58}Ni / {sup 60}Ni. An important aspect of the work is the preparation of high quality single-crystal thin films. The Ni layers will be grown on the (110) surface of pure Ni and verified for crystallinity using Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction and Rutherford Backscattering channelling analysis. The Pd bilayers will be grown on a Pd (100) surface. RHEED will be used to confirm the two-dimensional crystallinity of the surface before and after deposition of each layer, and channelling used to confirm bulk film crystallinity. Single crystal substrates are currently being prepared. Analysis of the Ni (110) surface using RHEED at 9 kV shows a streak spacing which corresponds to a lattice spacing of 2.47 {+-} 0.09 Angstroms. 9 refs., 1 fig.

  14. Variability of the caprine whey protein genes and their association with milk yield, composition and renneting properties in the Sarda breed: 2. The BLG gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dettori, Maria Luisa; Pazzola, Michele; Pira, Emanuela; Puggioni, Ornella; Vacca, Giuseppe Massimo

    2015-11-01

    The variability of the promoter region and the 3'UTR (exon-7) of the BLG gene, encoding the β-lactoglobulin, was investigated by sequencing in 263 lactating Sarda goats in order to assess its association with milk traits. Milk traits included: milk yield, fat, total protein and lactose content, pH, daily fat and protein yield (DFPY), freezing point, milk energy, somatic cell count, total microbial mesophilic count, rennet coagulation time (RCT), curd firming rate (k20) and curd firmness (a30). A total of 7 polymorphic sites were detected and the sequence analysed was given accession number KM817769. Only three SNPs (c.-381C>T, c.-323C>T and c.*420C>A) had minor allele frequency higher than 0.05. The effects of farm, stage of lactation and the interaction farm × stage of lactation significantly influenced all the milk traits (P T and c.*420C>A (P T (P < 0.001). The c.-381TT homozygous goats showed lower pH, RCT and k20 than c.-381CT (P < 0.05). In conclusion the polymorphism of the goat BLG gene did not affect the total protein content of the Sarda goat milk, and only weakly influenced RCT and k20. On the other hand, an interesting effect on milk yields and DFPY emerged in two SNPs. This information might be useful in dairy goat breeding programs.

  15. Theoretical studies of thermionic conversion of solar energy with graphene as emitter and collector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olawole, Olukunle C.; De, Dilip Kumar

    2018-01-01

    Thermionic energy conversion (TEC) using nanomaterials is an emerging field of research. It is known that graphene can withstand temperatures as high as 4600 K in vacuum, and it has been shown that its work function can be engineered from a high value (for monolayer/bilayer) of 4.6 eV to as low as 0.7 eV. Such attractive electronic properties (e.g., good electrical conductivity and high dielectric constant) make engineered graphene a good candidate as an emitter and collector in a thermionic energy converter for harnessing solar energy efficiently. We have used a modified Richardson-Dushman equation and have adopted a model where the collector temperature could be controlled through heat extraction in a calculated amount and a magnet can be attached on the back surface of the collector for future control of the space-charge effect. Our work shows that the efficiency of solar energy conversion also depends on power density falling on the emitter surface, and that a power conversion efficiency of graphene-based solar TEC as high as 55% can be easily achieved (in the absence of the space-charge effect) through proper choice of work functions, collector temperature, and emissivity of emitter surfaces. Such solar energy conversion would reduce our dependence on silicon solar panels and offers great potential for future renewable energy utilization.

  16. Intercalation of small hydrophobic molecules in lipid bilayers containing cholesterol

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Worcester, D.L.; Hamacher, K.; Kaiser, H.; Kulasekere, R.; Torbet, J. [Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)

    1994-12-31

    Partitioning of small hydrophobic molecules into lipid bilayers containing cholesterol has been studied using the 2XC diffractometer at the University of Missouri Research Reactor. Locations of the compounds were determined by Fourier difference methods with data from both deuterated and undeuterated compounds introduced into the bilayers from the vapor phase. Data fitting procedures were developed for determining how well the compounds were localized. The compounds were found to be localized in a narrow region at the center of the hydrophobic layer, between the two halves of the bilayer. The structures are therefore intercalated structures with the long axis of the molecules in the plane of the bilayer.

  17. Intercalation of small hydrophobic molecules in lipid bilayers containing cholesterol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Worcester, D.L.; Hamacher, K.; Kaiser, H.; Kulasekere, R.; Torbet, J.

    1994-01-01

    Partitioning of small hydrophobic molecules into lipid bilayers containing cholesterol has been studied using the 2XC diffractometer at the University of Missouri Research Reactor. Locations of the compounds were determined by Fourier difference methods with data from both deuterated and undeuterated compounds introduced into the bilayers from the vapor phase. Data fitting procedures were developed for determining how well the compounds were localized. The compounds were found to be localized in a narrow region at the center of the hydrophobic layer, between the two halves of the bilayer. The structures are therefore intercalated structures with the long axis of the molecules in the plane of the bilayer

  18. Ionic motion in PEDOT and PPy conducting polymer bilayers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zainudeen, Umer L.; Careem, M.A.; Skaarup, Steen

    2006-01-01

    Conducting polymer bilayers with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and polypyrrole (PPy), each containing dodecyl benzenesulfonate (DBS) as immobile dopant species, were synthesized galvanostatically. The electrochemical behaviour of the bilayers was investigated using cyclic voltammetry...

  19. Biomimetic Cationic Nanoparticles Based on Silica: Optimizing Bilayer Deposition from Lipid Films

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo T. Ribeiro

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The optimization of bilayer coverage on particles is important for a variety of biomedical applications, such as drug, vaccine, and genetic material delivery. This work aims at optimizing the deposition of cationic bilayers on silica over a range of experimental conditions for the intervening medium and two different assemblies for the cationic lipid, namely, lipid films or pre-formed lipid bilayer fragments. The lipid adsorption on silica in situ over a range of added lipid concentrations was determined from elemental analysis of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen and related to the colloidal stability, sizing, zeta potential, and polydispersity of the silica/lipid nanoparticles. Superior bilayer deposition took place from lipid films, whereas adsorption from pre-formed bilayer fragments yielded limiting adsorption below the levels expected for bilayer adsorption.

  20. Electronic Properties of Graphene–PtSe2 Contacts

    KAUST Repository

    Sattar, Shahid

    2017-04-26

    In this article, we study the electronic properties of graphene in contact with monolayer and bilayer PtSe2 using first-principles calculations. It turns out that there is no charge transfer between the components because of the weak van der Waals interaction. We calculate the work functions of monolayer and bilayer PtSe2 and analyze the band bending at the contact with graphene. The formation of an n-type Schottky contact with monolayer PtSe2 and a p-type Schottky contact with bilayer PtSe2 is demonstrated. The Schottky barrier height is very low in the bilayer case and can be reduced to zero by 0.8% biaxial tensile strain.

  1. Electronic Properties of Graphene–PtSe2 Contacts

    KAUST Repository

    Sattar, Shahid; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2017-01-01

    In this article, we study the electronic properties of graphene in contact with monolayer and bilayer PtSe2 using first-principles calculations. It turns out that there is no charge transfer between the components because of the weak van der Waals interaction. We calculate the work functions of monolayer and bilayer PtSe2 and analyze the band bending at the contact with graphene. The formation of an n-type Schottky contact with monolayer PtSe2 and a p-type Schottky contact with bilayer PtSe2 is demonstrated. The Schottky barrier height is very low in the bilayer case and can be reduced to zero by 0.8% biaxial tensile strain.

  2. Strong Rashba-Edelstein Effect-Induced Spin–Orbit Torques in Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenide/Ferromagnet Bilayers

    KAUST Repository

    Shao, Qiming

    2016-11-18

    The electronic and optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional materials have been extensively explored in graphene and layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Spintronics in these two-dimensional materials could provide novel opportunities for future electronics, for example, efficient generation of spin current, which should enable the efficient manipulation of magnetic elements. So far, the quantitative determination of charge current-induced spin current and spin-orbit torques (SOTs) on the magnetic layer adjacent to two-dimensional materials is still lacking. Here, we report a large SOT generated by current-induced spin accumulation through the Rashba-Edelstein effect in the composites of monolayer TMD (MoS or WSe)/CoFeB bilayer. The effective spin conductivity corresponding to the SOT turns out to be almost temperature-independent. Our results suggest that the charge-spin conversion in the chemical vapor deposition-grown large-scale monolayer TMDs could potentially lead to high energy efficiency for magnetization reversal and convenient device integration for future spintronics based on two-dimensional materials.

  3. Multi-Stacked Supported Lipid Bilayer Micropatterning through Polymer Stencil Lift-Off

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yujie Zhu

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Complex multi-lamellar structures play a critical role in biological systems, where they are present as lamellar bodies, and as part of biological assemblies that control energy transduction processes. Multi-lamellar lipid layers not only provide interesting systems for fundamental research on membrane structure and bilayer-associated polypeptides, but can also serve as components in bioinspired materials or devices. Although the ability to pattern stacked lipid bilayers at the micron scale is of importance for these purposes, limited work has been done in developing such patterning techniques. Here, we present a simple and direct approach to pattern stacked supported lipid bilayers (SLBs using polymer stencil lift-off and the electrostatic interactions between cationic and anionic lipids. Both homogeneous and phase-segregated stacked SLB patterns were produced, demonstrating that the stacked lipid bilayers retain lateral diffusivity. We demonstrate patterned SLB stacks of up to four bilayers, where fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET and quenching was used to probe the interactions between lipid bilayers. Furthermore, the study of lipid phase behaviour showed that gel phase domains align between adjacent layers. The proposed stacked SLB pattern platform provides a robust model for studying lipid behaviour with a controlled number of bilayers, and an attractive means towards building functional bioinspired materials or devices.

  4. An electrochemical investigation on the dissolution of bilayered porous anodic alumina

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liao, Jinfu; Ling, Zhiyuan; Li, Yi; Hu, Xing

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Pulse polarization was introduced to investigate the dissolution of PAA. • Electric field within the bilayers was estimated. • The formation of the barrier layer involves mainly solid-state processes. • The structure should be the determining factor in the dissolution of the bilayers. - Abstract: Anodic alumina attracts much research interest in many disciplines for its versatility. Meanwhile, some aspects regarding its growth are still not well-understood, such as the formation and properties of its bilayer structure. In this paper, along with capacitance measurement, pulse polarization is introduced to study the dissolution of bilayered porous anodic alumina (PAA). Combined with electron microscope observation, the electric field in the outer layer is estimated to be slightly higher than that in the inner layer. By comparing with (oxy-)hydroxide layers, the electric field distribution within barrier layer of PAA confirms that the bilayers are compact and are formed mainly by solid-state ionic migration. The changes of dissolution rates after annealing and application of electric pulses suggest that structure may be a determining factor for the dissolution behaviors of the bilayers.

  5. Proton permeation of lipid bilayers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deamer, D W

    1987-10-01

    Proton permeation of the lipid bilayer barrier has two unique features. First, permeability coefficients measured at neutral pH ranges are six to seven orders of magnitude greater than expected from knowledge of other monovalent cations. Second, proton conductance across planar lipid bilayers varies at most by a factor of 10 when pH is varied from near 1 to near 11. Two mechanisms have been proposed to account for this anomalous behavior: proton conductance related to contaminants of lipid bilayers, and proton translocation along transient hydrogen-bonded chains (tHBC) of associated water molecules in the membrane. The weight of evidence suggests that trace contaminants may contribute to proton conductance across planar lipid membranes at certain pH ranges, but cannot account for the anomalous proton flux in liposome systems. Two new results will be reported here which were designed to test the tHBC model. These include measurements of relative proton/potassium permeability in the gramicidin channel, and plots of proton flux against the magnitude of pH gradients. (1) The relative permeabilities of protons and potassium through the gramicidin channel, which contains a single strand of hydrogen-bonded water molecules, were found to differ by at least four orders of magnitude when measured at neutral pH ranges. This result demonstrates that a hydrogen-bonded chain of water molecules can provide substantial discrimination between protons and other cations. It was also possible to calculate that if approximately 7% of bilayer water was present in a transient configuration similar to that of the gramicidin channel, it could account for the measured proton flux. (2) The plot of proton conductance against pH gradient across liposome membranes was superlinear, a result that is consistent with one of three alternative tHBC models for proton conductance described by Nagle elsewhere in this volume.

  6. The Integrin Receptor in Biologically Relevant Bilayers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kalli, Antreas C.; Róg, Tomasz; Vattulainen, Ilpo

    2017-01-01

    /talin complex was inserted in biologically relevant bilayers that resemble the cell plasma membrane containing zwitterionic and charged phospholipids, cholesterol and sphingolipids to study the dynamics of the integrin receptor and its effect on bilayer structure and dynamics. The results of this study...... demonstrate the dynamic nature of the integrin receptor and suggest that the presence of the integrin receptor alters the lipid organization between the two leaflets of the bilayer. In particular, our results suggest elevated density of cholesterol and of phosphatidylserine lipids around the integrin....../talin complex and a slowing down of lipids in an annulus of ~30 Å around the protein due to interactions between the lipids and the integrin/talin F2–F3 complex. This may in part regulate the interactions of integrins with other related proteins or integrin clustering thus facilitating signal transduction...

  7. Fluorescent biosensors enabled by graphene and graphene oxide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Huan; Zhang, Honglu; Aldalbahi, Ali; Zuo, Xiaolei; Fan, Chunhai; Mi, Xianqiang

    2017-03-15

    During the past few years, graphene and graphene oxide (GO) have attracted numerous attentions for the potential applications in various fields from energy technology, biosensing to biomedical diagnosis and therapy due to their various functionalization, high volume surface ratio, unique physical and electrical properties. Among which, graphene and graphene oxide based fluorescent biosensors enabled by their fluorescence-quenching properties have attracted great interests. The fluorescence of fluorophore or dye labeled on probes (such as molecular beacon, aptamer, DNAzymes and so on) was quenched after adsorbed on to the surface of graphene. While in the present of the targets, due to the strong interactions between probes and targets, the probes were detached from the surface of graphene, generating dramatic fluorescence, which could be used as signals for detection of the targets. This strategy was simple and economy, together with great programmable abilities of probes; we could realize detection of different kinds of species. In this review, we first briefly introduced the history of graphene and graphene oxide, and then summarized the fluorescent biosensors enabled by graphene and GO, with a detailed account of the design mechanism and comparison with other nanomaterials (e.g. carbon nanotubes and gold nanoparticles). Following that, different sensing platforms for detection of DNAs, ions, biomolecules and pathogens or cells as well as the cytotoxicity issue of graphene and GO based in vivo biosensing were further discussed. We hope that this review would do some help to researchers who are interested in graphene related biosening research work. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Tungsten Trioxide/Zinc Tungstate Bilayers: Electrochromic Behaviors, Energy Storage and Electron Transfer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei, Huige; Ding, Daowei; Yan, Xingru; Guo, Jiang; Shao, Lu; Chen, Haoran; Sun, Luyi; Colorado, Henry A.; Wei, Suying; Guo, Zhanhu

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Tungsten oxide and zinc tungstate bilayers have been prepared via a facile sol-gel method for integrated applications of electrochromic behaviors and energy storage;. • Electron transfer behaviors between the semiconductor bilayer films have been found dependent on the bilayer assembly sequence;. • Methylene blue (MB) has been employed for the first time as an indicator to study the electron transfer phenomenon in the bilayer films. - Abstract: Pair-sequentially spin-coated tungsten trioxide (WO 3 ) and zinc tungstate (ZnWO 4 ) bilayer films onto indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass slides have been prepared via sol-gel methods followed by annealing. The bilayers (ZnWO 4 /WO 3 denoting the bilayer film with the inner layer of ZnWO 4 and the outer layer of WO 3 on the ITO while WO 3 /ZnWO 4 standing for the bilayer film with the inner layer of WO 3 and the outer layer of ZnWO 4 on the ITO) exhibit integrated functions of electrochromic and energy storage behaviors as indicated by the in situ spectroelectrochemistry and cyclic voltammetry (CV) results. Accordingly, blue color was observed for the bilayer films at -1 V in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 solution. An areal capacitance of 140 and 230 μF/cm 2 was obtained for the ZnWO 4 /WO 3 , and WO 3 /ZnWO 4 film, respectively, at a scan rate of 0.05 V/s in the CV measurements. The CV results also unveiled the electron transfer behavior between the semiconductor films in the oxidation process, suggesting a sequence-dependent electrochemical response in the bilayer films. Meanwhile, methylene blue (MB) was used as an indicator to study the electron transfer phenomenon during the reduction process at negative potentials of -0.4 and -0.8 V, in 0.5 M Na 2 SO 4 . The results indicated that the electrons transfer across the bilayers was enhanced at more negative potentials

  9. Influence of ester-modified lipids on bilayer structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villanueva, Diana Y; Lim, Joseph B; Klauda, Jeffery B

    2013-11-19

    Lipid membranes function as barriers for cells to prevent unwanted chemicals from entering the cell and wanted chemicals from leaving. Because of their hydrophobic interior, membranes do not allow water to penetrate beyond the headgroup region. We performed molecular simulations to examine the effects of ester-modified lipids, which contain ester groups along their hydrocarbon chains, on bilayer structure. We chose two lipids from those presented in Menger et al. [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 14034] with ester groups in (1) the upper half of the lipid chain (MEPC) and (2) the middle and end of the lipid chain (MGPC). MGPC (30%)/POPC bilayers formed stable water pores of diameter 5-7 Å, but MGPC (22%)/POPC and MEPC (30%)/POPC bilayers did not form these defects. These pores were similar to those formed during electroporation; i.e., the head groups lined the pore and allowed water and ions to transport across the bilayer. However, we found that lateral organization of the MGPC lipids into clusters, instead of an electric field or charge disparity as in electroporation, was essential for pore formation. On the basis of this, we propose an overall mechanism for pore formation. The similarities between the ester-modified lipids and byproducts of lipid peroxidation with multiple hydrophilic groups in the middle of the chain suggest that free radical reactions with unsaturated lipids and sterols result in fundamental changes that may be similar to what is seen in bilayers with ester-modified lipids.

  10. Tethered and Polymer Supported Bilayer Lipid Membranes: Structure and Function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jakob Andersson

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Solid supported bilayer lipid membranes are model systems to mimic natural cell membranes in order to understand structural and functional properties of such systems. The use of a model system allows for the use of a wide variety of analytical tools including atomic force microscopy, impedance spectroscopy, neutron reflectometry, and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy. Among the large number of different types of model membranes polymer-supported and tethered lipid bilayers have been shown to be versatile and useful systems. Both systems consist of a lipid bilayer, which is de-coupled from an underlying support by a spacer cushion. Both systems will be reviewed, with an emphasis on the effect that the spacer moiety has on the bilayer properties.

  11. Evaluation of the performance characteristics of bilayer tablets: Part II. Impact of environmental conditions on the strength of bilayer tablets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kottala, Niranjan; Abebe, Admassu; Sprockel, Omar; Bergum, James; Nikfar, Faranak; Cuitiño, Alberto M

    2012-12-01

    Ambient air humidity and temperature are known to influence the mechanical strength of tablets. The objective of this work is to understand the influence of processing parameters and environmental conditions (humidity and temperature) on the strength of bilayer tablets. As part of this study, bilayer tablets were compressed with different layer ratios, dwell times, layer sequences, material properties (plastic and brittle), first and second layer forces, and lubricant concentrations. Compressed tablets were stored in stability chambers controlled at predetermined conditions (40C/45%RH, 40C/75%RH) for 1, 3, and 5 days. The axial strength of the stored tablets was measured and a statistical model was developed to determine the effects of the aforementioned factors on the strength of bilayer tablets. As part of this endeavor, a full 3 × 2(4) factorial design was executed. Responses of the experiments were analyzed using PROC GLM of SAS (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, North Carolina, USA). A model was fit using all the responses to determine the significant interactions (p < 0.05). Results of this study indicated that storage conditions and storage time have significant impact on the strength of bilayer tablets. For Avicel-lactose and lactose-Avicel tablets, tablet strength decreased with the increasing humidity and storage time. But for lactose-lactose tablets, due to the formation of solid bridges upon storage, an increase in tablet strength was observed. Significant interactions were observed between processing parameters and storage conditions on the strength of bilayer tablets.

  12. Lipids, lipid bilayers and vesicles as seen by neutrons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seto, Hideki

    2011-01-01

    Lipid molecules self-assemble into bilayers in water with their hydrocarbon chains facing inward due to their amphiphilic nature. The structural and dynamical properties of lipids and lipid bilayers have been studied by neutron scattering intensively. In this article, 3 topics are shown as typical examples. 1) a time-resolved small-angle neutron scattering on uni-lamellar vesicles composed of deuterated and protonated lipids to determine lipid kinetics, 2) small-angle neutron scattering to investigate spontaneous formation of nanopores on uni-lamellar vesicles, and 3) neutron spin echo study to determine bending modulus of lipid bilayers. (author)

  13. Bi-layer plate-type acoustic metamaterials with Willis coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Fuyin; Huang, Meng; Xu, Yicai; Wu, Jiu Hui

    2018-01-01

    Dynamic effective negative parameters are principal to the representation of the physical properties of metamaterials. In this paper, a bi-layer plate-type unit was proposed with both a negative mass density and a negative bulk modulus; moreover, through analysis of these bi-layer structures, some important problems about acoustic metamaterials were studied. First, dynamic effective mass densities and the bulk modulus of the bi-layer plate-type acoustic structure were clarified through both the direct and the retrieval methods, and, in addition, the intrinsic relationship between the sound transmission (absorption) characteristics and the effective parameters was analyzed. Furthermore, the properties of dynamic effective parameters for an asymmetric bi-layer acoustic structure were further considered through an analysis of experimental data, and the modified effective parameters were then obtained through consideration of the Willis coupling in the asymmetric passive system. In addition, by taking both the clamped and the periodic boundary conditions into consideration in the bi-layer plate-type acoustic system, new perspectives were presented for study on the effective parameters and sound insulation properties in the range below the cut-off frequency. The special acoustic properties established by these effective parameters could enrich our knowledge and provide guidance for the design and installation of acoustic metamaterial structures in future sound engineering practice.

  14. Graphene Coatings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stoot, Adam Carsten; Camilli, Luca; Bøggild, Peter

    2014-01-01

    Owing to its remarkable electrical and mechanical properties, graphene has been attracting tremendous interest in materials science. In particular, its chemical stability and impermeability make it a promising protective membrane. However, recent investigations reveal that single layer graphene...... cannot be used as a barrier in the long run, due to galvanic corrosion phenomena arising when oxygen or water penetrate through graphene cracks or domain boundaries. Here, we overcome this issue by using a multilayered (ML) graphene coating. Our lab- as well as industrial-scale tests demonstrate that ML...... graphene can effectively protect Ni in harsh environments, even after long term exposure. This is made possible by the presence of a high number of graphene layers, which can efficiently mask the cracks and domain boundaries defects found in individual layers of graphene. Our findings thus show...

  15. Quantitative Raman microspectroscopy for water permeability parameters at a droplet interface bilayer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braziel, S; Sullivan, K; Lee, S

    2018-01-29

    Using confocal Raman microspectroscopy, we derive parameters for bilayer water transport across an isolated nanoliter aqueous droplet pair. For a bilayer formed with two osmotically imbalanced and adherent nanoliter aqueous droplets in a surrounding oil solvent, a droplet interface bilayer (DIB), the water permeability coefficient across the lipid bilayer was determined from monitoring the Raman scattering from the C[triple bond, length as m-dash]N stretching mode of K 3 Fe(CN) 6 as a measure of water uptake into the swelling droplet of a DIB pair. We also derive passive diffusional permeability coefficient for D 2 O transport across a droplet bilayer using O-D Raman signal. This method provides a significant methodological advance in determining water permeability coefficients in a convenient and reliable way.

  16. Reduction of Graphene Oxide to Graphene by Using Gamma Irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shamellia Sharin; Irman Abdul Rahman; Ainee Fatimah Ahmad

    2015-01-01

    This research aims to gauge the ability of gamma radiation to induce the reduction of graphene oxide to graphene. Graphene oxide powders were dispersed into a mixture of alcohol and deionized water, and the mixture was then irradiated with a "6"0Co source using a GammaCell 220 Excel irradiator at absorbed doses of 0, 5, 15, 20 and 35 kGy. According to characterization using Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), it can be seen that almost every oxygen-containing functional group has been removed after irradiation of the graphene oxide mixture. Reduction of graphene oxide was also proven from the characterization using UV-Vis Spectroscopy, in which the wavelength of graphene oxide at 237 nm was red-shifted to 277 nm after being irradiated and the peak at 292 nm, (indicating the carboxyl group) disappears in the UV-Vis spectrum of reduced graphene oxide. Morphology of graphene oxide also changed from a smooth and flat surface to crumpled. The ratio of carbon/ oxygen in the graphene oxide was lower than the carbon/ oxygen of reduced graphene oxide. At the end of the experiment, it can be deduced that graphene oxide underwent reduction, characterized before and after irradiation using Emission Scanned Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray, Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy and UV-Vis Spectroscopy. Therefore, we postulate that the irradiation technique that induces reduction, can be used to obtain reduced graphene oxide from graphene oxide. (author)

  17. Pairing of cholesterol with oxidized phospholipid species in lipid bilayers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Khandelia, Himanshu; Loubet, Bastien; Olzynska, Agnieszka

    2014-01-01

    We claim that (1) cholesterol protects bilayers from disruption caused by lipid oxidation by sequestering conical shaped oxidized lipid species such as 1-palmitoyl-2-azelaoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (PZPC) away from phospholipid, because cholesterol and the oxidized lipid have complementary...... shapes and (2) mixtures of cholesterol and oxidized lipids can self-assemble into bilayers much like lysolipid–cholesterol mixtures. The evidence for bilayer protection comes from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements. Unimodal size distributions of extruded...... vesicles (LUVETs) made up of a mixture of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) and PZPC containing high amounts of PZPC are only obtained when cholesterol is present in high concentrations. In simulations, bilayers containing high amounts of PZPC become porous, unless cholesterol is also present...

  18. Graphene as tunable contact for high performance thin film transistor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yuan

    Graphene has been one of the most extensively studied materials due to its unique band structure, the linear dispersion at the K point. It gives rise to novel phenomena, such as the anomalous quantum Hall effect, and has opened up a new category of "Fermi-Dirac" physics. Graphene has also attracted enormous attention for future electronics because of its exceptional high carrier mobility, high carrier saturation velocity, and large critical current density. However, graphene has zero intrinsic band gap, thus can not be used as the active channel material for logic transistors with sufficient on/off current ratio. Previous approaches to address this challenge include the induction of a transport gap in graphene nanostructures or bilayer graphene. However, these approaches have proved successful in improving the on-- off ratio of the resulting devices, but often at a severe sacrifice of the deliverable current density. Alternatively, with a finite density of states, tunable work-function and optical transparency, graphene can function as a unique tunable contact material to create a new structure of electronic devices. In this thesis, I will present my effort toward on-off ratio of graphene based vertical thin film transistor. I will include the work form four of my first author publication. I will first present my research studies on the a dramatic enhancement of the overall quantum efficiency and spectral selectivity of graphene photodetector, by coupling with plasmonic nanostructures. It is observed that metallic plasmonic nanostructures can be integrated with graphene photodetectors to greatly enhance the photocurrent and external quantum efficiency by up to 1,500%. Plasmonic nanostructures of variable resonance frequencies selectively amplify the photoresponse of graphene to light of different wavelengths, enabling highly specific detection of multicolours. Then I will show a new design of highly flexible vertical TFTs (VTFTs) with superior electrical

  19. Layer configurations comparison of bilayer-films for EGFET pH sensor application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahman, R. A.; Zulkefle, M. A.; Yusof, K. A.; Abdullah, W. F. H.; Rusop, M.; Herman, S. H.

    2018-05-01

    The comparison between bilayer configurations were presented in this paper. TiO2 and ZnO layer configurations were manipulated in order to investigate which configuration produce highest sensing performance to be applied as EGFET pH sensor. Both of the materials were deposited together as the bilayer film. The configurations were manipulated between TiO2/ZnO and ZnO/TiO2. ITO was used as the substrate in this study and both of the materials were deposited by using sol-gel spin coating technique. After deposition process, these bilayer film then undergone for EGFET pH sensor measurement and physical characterization. The EGFET pH sensor measurement was done by dipping the fabricated bilayer film into three different pH values, which is pH4, pH7 and pH10. Bilayer film act as the pH-sensitive membrane, which connected to the commercial metal-oxide semiconductor FET (MOSFET). This MOSFET was connected to the interfacing circuit. Voltage output obtained were recorded and the graph was plotted by using the data recorded. Based on the EGFET pH sensor measurement, TiO2/ZnO bilayer film exhibit higher sensing performance, compared with ZnO/TiO2. TiO2/ZnO bilayer film produced 53.10 mV/pH with the linearity value of 0.9913. Afterwards, fabricated bilayer films then were characterized with AFM to explore their surface roughness and surface topography behavior.

  20. Corrugation of Phase-Separated Lipid Bilayers Supported by Nanoporous Silica Xerogel Surfaces

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goksu, E I; Nellis, B A; Lin, W; Satcher Jr., J H; Groves, J T; Risbud, S H; Longo, M L

    2008-10-30

    Lipid bilayers supported by substrates with nanometer-scale surface corrugations holds interest in understanding both nanoparticle-membrane interactions and the challenges of constructing models of cell membranes on surfaces with desirable properties, e.g. porosity. Here, we successfully form a two-phase (gel-fluid) lipid bilayer supported by nanoporous silica xerogel. Surface topology, diffusion, and lipid density in comparison to mica-supported lipid bilayers were characterized by AFM, FRAP, FCS, and quantitative fluorescence microscopy, respectively. We found that the two-phase lipid bilayer follows the xerogel surface contours. The corrugation imparted on the lipid bilayer results in a lipid density that is twice that on a flat mica surface. In direct agreement with the doubling of actual bilayer area in a projected area, we find that the lateral diffusion coefficient (D) of lipids on xerogel ({approx}1.7 {micro}m{sup 2}/s) is predictably lower than on mica ({approx}4.1 {micro}m{sup 2}/s) by both FRAP and FCS techniques. Furthermore, the gel-phase domains on xerogel compared to mica were larger and less numerous. Overall, our results suggest the presence of a relatively defect-free continuous two-phase bilayer that penetrates approximately midway into the first layer of {approx}50 nm xerogel beads.

  1. Porous Materials to Support Bilayer Lipid Membranes for Ion Channel Biosensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thai Phung

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available To identify materials suitable as membrane supports for ion channel biosensors, six filter materials of varying hydrophobicity, tortuosity, and thickness were examined for their ability to support bilayer lipid membranes as determined by electrical impedance spectroscopy. Bilayers supported by hydrophobic materials (PTFE, polycarbonate, nylon, and silanised silver had optimal resistance (14–19 GΩ and capacitance (0.8–1.6 μF values whereas those with low hydrophobicity did not form BLMs (PVDF or were short-lived (unsilanised silver. The ability of ion channels to function in BLMs was assessed using a method recently reported to improve the efficiency of proteoliposome incorporation into PTFE-supported bilayers. Voltage-gated sodium channel activation by veratridine and inhibition by saxitoxin showed activity for PTFE, nylon, and silanised silver, but not polycarbonate. Bilayers on thicker, more tortuous, and hydrophobic materials produced higher current levels. Bilayers that self-assembled on PTFE filters were the longest lived and produced the most channel activity using this method.

  2. Filament networks attached to membranes: cytoskeletal pressure and local bilayer deformation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Auth, Thorsten; Safran, S A; Gov, Nir S

    2007-01-01

    Several cell types, among them red blood cells, have a cortical, two-dimensional (2D) network of filaments sparsely attached to their lipid bilayer. In many mammalian cells, this 2D polymer network is connected to an underlying 3D, more rigid cytoskeleton. In this paper, we consider the pressure exerted by the thermally fluctuating, cortical network of filaments on the bilayer and predict the bilayer deformations that are induced by this pressure. We treat the filaments as flexible polymers and calculate the pressure that a network of such linear chains exerts on the bilayer; we then minimize the bilayer shape in order to predict the resulting local deformations. We compare our predictions with membrane deformations observed in electron micrographs of red blood cells. The polymer pressure along with the resulting membrane deformation can lead to compartmentalization, regulate in-plane diffusion and may influence protein sorting as well as transmit signals to the polymerization of the underlying 3D cytoskeleton

  3. Step-wise potential development across the lipid bilayer under external electric fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majhi, Amit Kumar

    2018-04-01

    Pore formation across the bilayers under external electric field is an important phenomenon, which has numerous applications in biology and bio-engineering fields. However, it is not a ubiquitous event under all field applications. To initiate a pore in the bilayer a particular threshold electric field is required. The electric field alters the intrinsic potential distribution across the bilayer as we as it enhances total potential drop across the bilayer, which causes the pore formation. The intrinsic potential profile has a maximum peak value, which is 0.8 V and it gets enhanced under application of external field, 0.43 V/nm. The peak value becomes 1.4 V when a pore appears in the bilayer and it continues to evolve as along as the external electric field remains switched on.

  4. Non-bilayer structures in mitochondrial membranes regulate ATP synthase activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gasanov, Sardar E; Kim, Aleksandr A; Yaguzhinsky, Lev S; Dagda, Ruben K

    2018-02-01

    Cardiolipin (CL) is an anionic phospholipid at the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) that facilitates the formation of transient non-bilayer (non-lamellar) structures to maintain mitochondrial integrity. CL modulates mitochondrial functions including ATP synthesis. However, the biophysical mechanisms by which CL generates non-lamellar structures and the extent to which these structures contribute to ATP synthesis remain unknown. We hypothesized that CL and ATP synthase facilitate the formation of non-bilayer structures at the IMM to stimulate ATP synthesis. By using 1 H NMR and 31 P NMR techniques, we observed that increasing the temperature (8°C to 37°C), lowering the pH (3.0), or incubating intact mitochondria with CTII - an IMM-targeted toxin that increases the formation of immobilized non-bilayer structures - elevated the formation of non-bilayer structures to stimulate ATP synthesis. The F 0 sector of the ATP synthase complex can facilitate the formation of non-bilayer structures as incubating model membranes enriched with IMM-specific phospholipids with exogenous DCCD-binding protein of the F 0 sector (DCCD-BPF) elevated the formation of immobilized non-bilayer structures to a similar manner as CTII. Native PAGE assays revealed that CL, but not other anionic phospholipids, specifically binds to DCCD-BPF to promote the formation of stable lipid-protein complexes. Mechanistically, molecular docking studies identified two lipid binding sites for CL in DCCD-BPF. We propose a new model of ATP synthase regulation in which CL mediates the formation of non-bilayer structures that serve to cluster protons and ATP synthase complexes as a mechanism to enhance proton translocation to the F 0 sector, and thereby increase ATP synthesis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Computational Design of Multi-component Bio-Inspired Bilayer Membranes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evan Koufos

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Our investigation is motivated by the need to design bilayer membranes with tunable interfacial and mechanical properties for use in a range of applications, such as targeted drug delivery, sensing and imaging. We draw inspiration from biological cell membranes and focus on their principal constituents. In this paper, we present our results on the role of molecular architecture on the interfacial, structural and dynamical properties of bio-inspired membranes. We focus on four lipid architectures with variations in the head group shape and the hydrocarbon tail length. Each lipid species is composed of a hydrophilic head group and two hydrophobic tails. In addition, we study a model of the Cholesterol molecule to understand the interfacial properties of a bilayer membrane composed of rigid, single-tail molecular species. We demonstrate the properties of the bilayer membranes to be determined by the molecular architecture and rigidity of the constituent species. Finally, we demonstrate the formation of a stable mixed bilayer membrane composed of Cholesterol and one of the phospholipid species. Our approach can be adopted to design multi-component bilayer membranes with tunable interfacial and mechanical properties. We use a Molecular Dynamics-based mesoscopic simulation technique called Dissipative Particle Dynamics that resolves the molecular details of the components through soft-sphere coarse-grained models and reproduces the hydrodynamic behavior of the system over extended time scales.

  6. Prevention of intra-abdominal adhesion by bi-layer electrospun membrane.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Shichao; Wang, Wei; Yan, Hede; Fan, Cunyi

    2013-06-04

    The aim of this study was to compare the anti-adhesion efficacy of a bi-layer electrospun fibrous membrane consisting of hyaluronic acid-loaded poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) fibrous membrane as the inner layer and PCL fibrous membrane as the outer layer with a single-layer PCL electrospun fibrous membrane in a rat cecum abrasion model. The rat model utilized a cecal abrasion and abdominal wall insult surgical protocol. The bi-layer and PCL membranes were applied between the cecum and the abdominal wall, respectively. Control animals did not receive any treatment. After postoperative day 14, a visual semiquantitative grading scale was used to grade the extent of adhesion. Histological analysis was performed to reveal the features of adhesion tissues. Bi-layer membrane treated animals showed significantly lower adhesion scores than control animals (p compared with the PCL membrane. Histological analysis of the bi-layer membrane treated rat rarely demonstrated tissue adhesion while that of the PCL membrane treated rat and control rat showed loose and dense adhesion tissues, respectively. Bi-layer membrane can efficiently prevent adhesion formation in abdominal cavity and showed a significantly decreased adhesion tissue formation compared with the control.

  7. Tensile and shear methods for measuring strength of bilayer tablets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Shao-Yu; Li, Jian-Xin; Sun, Changquan Calvin

    2017-05-15

    Both shear and tensile measurement methods have been used to quantify interfacial bonding strength of bilayer tablets. The shear method is more convenient to perform, but reproducible strength data requires careful control of the placement of tablet and contact point for shear force application. Moreover, data obtained from the shear method depend on the orientation of the bilayer tablet. Although more time-consuming to perform, the tensile method yields data that are straightforward to interpret. Thus, the tensile method is preferred in fundamental bilayer tableting research to minimize ambiguity in data interpretation. Using both shear and tensile methods, we measured the mechanical strength of bilayer tablets made of several different layer combinations of lactose and microcrystalline cellulose. We observed a good correlation between strength obtained by the tensile method and carefully conducted shear method. This suggests that the shear method may be used for routine quality test of bilayer tablets during manufacturing because of its speed and convenience, provided a protocol for careful control of the placement of the tablet interface, tablet orientation, and blade is implemented. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Buckling-dependent switching behaviours in shifted bilayer germanene nanoribbons: A computational study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arjmand, T.; Tagani, M. Bagheri; Soleimani, H. Rahimpour

    2018-01-01

    Bilayer germanene nanoribbons are investigated in different stacks like buckled and flat armchair and buckled zigzag germanene nanoribbons by performing theoretical calculations using the nonequilibrium Greens function method combined with density functional theory. In these bilayer types, the current oscillates with change of interlayer distances or intra-layer overlaps and is dependent on the type of the bilayer. Band gap of AA-stacked of shifted flat bilayer armchair germanene nanoribbon oscillates by change of interlayer distance which is in contrast to buckled bilayer armchair germanene nanoribbon. So, results show the buckling makes system tend to be a semiconductor with wide band gap. Therefore, AA-stacked of shifted flat bilayer armchair germanene nanoribbon has properties between zigzag and armchair edges, the higher current under bias voltages similar to zigzag edge and also oscillations in current like buckled armchair edges. Also, it is found that HOMO-LUMO band gap strongly affects oscillation in currents and their I-V characteristic. This kind of junction improves the switching properties at low voltages around the band gap.

  9. Effect of free cholesterol on incorporation of triolein in phospholipid bilayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spooner, P.J.R.; Small, D.M.

    1987-01-01

    Triacylglycerols are the major substrates for lipolytic enzymes that act at the surface of emulsion-like particles such as triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, chylomicrons, and intracellular lipid droplets. This study examines the effect of cholesterol on the solubility of a triacylglycerol, triolein, in phospholipid surfaces. Solubilities of [carbonyl- 13 C] triolein in phospholipid bilayer vesicles containing between 0 and 50 mol % free cholesterol, prepared by cosonication, were measured by 13 C NMR. The carbonyl resonances from bilayer-incorporated triglyceride were shifted downfield in the 13 C NMR spectra from those corresponding to excess, nonincorporated material. This enabled solubilities to be determined directly from carbonyl peak intensities at most cholesterol concentration. The bilayer solubility of triolein was inversely proportional to the cholesterol/phospholipid mole ratio. In pure phospholipid vesicles the triolein solubility was 2.2 mol %. The triglyceride incorporation decreased to 1.1 mol % at a cholesterol/phospholipid mole ratio of 0.5, and at a mole ratio of 1.0 for the bilayer lipids, the triolein solubility was reduced to just 0.15 mol %. The effects of free cholesterol were more pronounced and progressive than observed previously on the bilayer solubility of cholestery oleate. As with cholesteryl oleate, they suggest that cholesterol also displaces solubilized triglyceride to deeper regions of the bilayer

  10. Composition Dependence of Water Permeation Across Multicomponent Gel-Phase Bilayers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartkamp, R.M.; Moore, Timothy C.; Iacovella, Christopher R.; Thompson, Michael A.; Bulsara, Pallav A.; Moore, David J.; McCabe, Clare

    2018-01-01

    The permeability of multicomponent phospholipid bilayers in the gel phase is investigated via molecular dynamics simulation. The physical role of the different molecules is probed by comparing multiple mixed-component bilayers containing distearylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC) with varying amounts of

  11. Modeling constrained sintering of bi-layered tubular structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tadesse Molla, Tesfaye; Kothanda Ramachandran, Dhavanesan; Ni, De Wei

    2015-01-01

    Constrained sintering of tubular bi-layered structures is being used in the development of various technologies. Densification mismatch between the layers making the tubular bi-layer can generate stresses, which may create processing defects. An analytical model is presented to describe the densi...... and thermo-mechanical analysis. Results from the analytical model are found to agree well with finite element simulations as well as measurements from sintering experiment....

  12. Controlled release from bilayer-decorated magnetoliposomes via electromagnetic heating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yanjing; Bose, Arijit; Bothun, Geoffrey D

    2010-06-22

    Nanoscale assemblies that can be activated and controlled through external stimuli represent a next stage in multifunctional therapeutics. We report the formation, characterization, and release properties of bilayer-decorated magnetoliposomes (dMLs) that were prepared by embedding small hydrophobic SPIO nanoparticles at different lipid molecule to nanoparticle ratios within dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers. The dML structure was examined by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, and release was examined by carboxyfluorescein leakage. Nanoparticle heating using alternating current electromagnetic fields (EMFs) operating at radio frequencies provided selective release of the encapsulated molecule at low nanoparticle concentrations and under physiologically acceptable EMF conditions. Without radio frequency heating, spontaneous leakage from the dMLs decreased with increasing nanoparticle loading, consistent with greater bilayer stability and a decrease in the effective dML surface area due to aggregation. With radio frequency heating, the initial rate and extent of leakage increased significantly as a function of nanoparticle loading and electromagnetic field strength. The mechanism of release is attributed to a combination of bilayer permeabilization and partial dML rupture.

  13. Fabrication of oriented wrinkles on polydopamine/polystyrene bilayer films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Rong; Long, Yuhua; Zhu, Tang; Guo, Jing; Cai, Chao; Zhao, Ning; Xu, Jian

    2017-07-15

    Wrinkles exist widely in nature and our life. In this paper, wrinkles on polydopamine (PDA)/polystyrene (PS) bilayer films were formed by thermal annealing due to the different thermal coefficients of expansion of each layer. The factors that influenced the dimensions of wrinkles were studied. We found that oriented wrinkles could be formed if the bilayer films were patterned with micro-grooves, and the degree of the orientation depended on the thickness of the PDA and the dimensions of the grooves. Combined with the strong adhesion, biocompatibility and reactivity of PDA, the oriented wrinkles on PDA/PS patterned bilayers may find potential application in diffraction gratings, optical sensors and microfluidic devices. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Nanoscale strain engineering of graphene and graphene-based devices

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    N-C Yeh; C-C Hsu; M L Teague; J-Q Wang; D A Boyd; C-C Chen

    2016-01-01

    Structural distortions in nano-materials can induce dramatic changes in their electronic properties. This situation is well manifested in graphene, a two-dimensional honeycomb structure of carbon atoms with only one atomic layer thickness. In particular, strained graphene can result in both charging effects and pseudo-magnetic fields, so that controlled strain on a perfect graphene lattice can be tailored to yield desirable electronic properties. Here, we describe the theoretical foundation for strain-engineering of the electronic properties of graphene, and then provide experimental evidence for strain-induced pseudo-magnetic fields and charging effects in monolayer graphene. We further demonstrate the feasibility of nano-scale strain engineering for graphene-based devices by means of theoretical simula-tions and nano-fabrication technology.

  15. Terahertz carrier dynamics in graphene and graphene nanostructures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Søren A.; Turchinovich, Dmitry; Tielrooij, Klaas Jan

    2014-01-01

    Photoexcited charge carriers in 2D graphene and in 1D graphene nanostructures were studied with optical pump-THz probe spectroscopy. We find efficient hot-carrier multiplication in 2D graphene, and predominantly free carrier early time response in 1D nanostructures. © 2014 OSA....

  16. Modulated phases of phospholipid bilayers induced by tocopherols.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamal, Md Arif; Raghunathan, V A

    2012-11-01

    The influence of α-, γ- and δ-tocopherols on the structure and phase behavior of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers has been determined from X-ray diffraction studies on oriented multilayers. In all the three cases the main-transition temperature (T(m)) of DPPC was found to decrease with increasing tocopherol concentration up to around 25 mol%. Beyond this the main transition is suppressed in the case of γ-tocopherol, whereas T(m) becomes insensitive to composition in the other two cases. The pre-transition is found to be suppressed over a narrow tocopherol concentration range between 7.5 and 10 mol% in DPPC-γ-tocopherol and DPPC-δ-tocopherol bilayers, and the ripple phase occurs down to the lowest temperature studied. In all the three cases a modulated phase is observed above a tocopherol concentration of about 10 mol%, which is similar to the P(β) phase reported in DPPC-cholesterol bilayers. This phase is found to occur even in excess water conditions at lower tocopherol concentrations, and consists of bilayers with periodic height modulation. These results indicate the ability of tocopherols to induce local curvature in membranes, which could be important for some of their biological functions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Examining the origins of the hydration force between lipid bilayers using all-atom simulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gentilcore, Anastasia N; Michaud-Agrawal, Naveen; Crozier, Paul S; Stevens, Mark J; Woolf, Thomas B

    2010-05-01

    Using 237 all-atom double bilayer simulations, we examined the thermodynamic and structural changes that occur as a phosphatidylcholine lipid bilayer stack is dehydrated. The simulated system represents a micropatch of lipid multilayer systems that are studied experimentally using surface force apparatus, atomic force microscopy and osmotic pressure studies. In these experiments, the hydration level of the system is varied, changing the separation between the bilayers, in order to understand the forces that the bilayers feel as they are brought together. These studies have found a curious, strongly repulsive force when the bilayers are very close to each other, which has been termed the "hydration force," though the origins of this force are not clearly understood. We computationally reproduce this repulsive, relatively free energy change as bilayers come together and make qualitative conclusions as to the enthalpic and entropic origins of the free energy change. This analysis is supported by data showing structural changes in the waters, lipids and salts that have also been seen in experimental work. Increases in solvent ordering as the bilayers are dehydrated are found to be essential in causing the repulsion as the bilayers come together.

  18. Performance Enhancement of Small Molecular Solar Cells by Bilayer Cathode Buffer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Qinjun; Zhao, Huanbin; Zhou, Miao; Gao, Liyan; Hao, Yuying

    2016-04-01

    An effective composite bilayer cathode buffer structure is proposed for use in small molecular solar cells. CsF was doped in Alq3 to form the first cathode buffer, leading to small serial resistances. BCP was used as the second cathode buffer to block the holes to the electrode. The optimized bilayer cathode buffer significantly increased the short circuit and fill factor of devices. By integrating this bilayer cathode buffer, the CuPc/C60 small molecular heterojunction cell exhibited a power conversion efficiency of up to 0.8%, which was an improvement of 56% compared to a device with only the Alq3 cathode buffer. Meanwhile, the bilayer cathode buffer still has a good protective effect on the performance of the device.

  19. Rapid Evaporation of Water on Graphene/Graphene-Oxide: A Molecular Dynamics Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qibin; Xiao, Yitian; Shi, Xiaoyang; Song, Shufeng

    2017-09-07

    To reveal the mechanism of energy storage in the water/graphene system and water/grapheme-oxide system, the processes of rapid evaporation of water molecules on the sheets of graphene and graphene-oxide are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The results show that both the water/graphene and water/grapheme-oxide systems can store more energy than the pure water system during evaporation. The hydroxyl groups on the surface of graphene-oxide are able to reduce the attractive interactions between water molecules and the sheet of graphene-oxide. Also, the radial distribution function of the oxygen atom indicates that the hydroxyl groups affect the arrangement of water molecules at the water/graphene-oxide interface. Therefore, the capacity of thermal energy storage of the water/graphene-oxide system is lower than that of the water/graphene system, because of less desorption energy at the water/graphene-oxide interface. Also, the evaporation rate of water molecules on the graphene-oxide sheet is slower than that on the graphene sheet. The Leidenfrost phenomenon can be observed during the evaporation process in the water/grapheme-oxide system.

  20. Observing Graphene Grow: Catalyst–Graphene Interactions during Scalable Graphene Growth on Polycrystalline Copper

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Complementary in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffractometry, and environmental scanning electron microscopy are used to fingerprint the entire graphene chemical vapor deposition process on technologically important polycrystalline Cu catalysts to address the current lack of understanding of the underlying fundamental growth mechanisms and catalyst interactions. Graphene forms directly on metallic Cu during the high-temperature hydrocarbon exposure, whereby an upshift in the binding energies of the corresponding C1s XPS core level signatures is indicative of coupling between the Cu catalyst and the growing graphene. Minor carbon uptake into Cu can under certain conditions manifest itself as carbon precipitation upon cooling. Postgrowth, ambient air exposure even at room temperature decouples the graphene from Cu by (reversible) oxygen intercalation. The importance of these dynamic interactions is discussed for graphene growth, processing, and device integration. PMID:24041311

  1. Magnetically Assisted Bilayer Composites for Soft Bending Actuators

    OpenAIRE

    Jang, Sung-Hwan; Na, Seon-Hong; Park, Yong-Lae

    2017-01-01

    This article presents a soft pneumatic bending actuator using a magnetically assisted bilayer composite composed of silicone polymer and ferromagnetic particles. Bilayer composites were fabricated by mixing ferromagnetic particles to a prepolymer state of silicone in a mold and asymmetrically distributed them by applying a strong non-uniform magnetic field to one side of the mold during the curing process. The biased magnetic field induces sedimentation of the ferromagnetic particles toward o...

  2. Gas Separation through Bilayer Silica, the Thinnest Possible Silica Membrane.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Bowen; Mandrà, Salvatore; Curry, John O; Shaikhutdinov, Shamil; Freund, Hans-Joachim; Schrier, Joshua

    2017-12-13

    Membrane-based gas separation processes can address key challenges in energy and environment, but for many applications the permeance and selectivity of bulk membranes is insufficient for economical use. Theory and experiment indicate that permeance and selectivity can be increased by using two-dimensional materials with subnanometer pores as membranes. Motivated by experiments showing selective permeation of H 2 /CO mixtures through amorphous silica bilayers, here we perform a theoretical study of gas separation through silica bilayers. Using density functional theory calculations, we obtain geometries of crystalline free-standing silica bilayers (comprised of six-membered rings), as well as the seven-, eight-, and nine-membered rings that are observed in glassy silica bilayers, which arise due to Stone-Wales defects and vacancies. We then compute the potential energy barriers for gas passage through these various pore types for He, Ne, Ar, Kr, H 2 , N 2 , CO, and CO 2 gases, and use the data to assess their capability for selective gas separation. Our calculations indicate that crystalline bilayer silica, which is less than a nanometer thick, can be a high-selectivity and high-permeance membrane material for 3 He/ 4 He, He/natural gas, and H 2 /CO separations.

  3. Calculations of the electrostatic potential adjacent to model phospholipid bilayers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peitzsch, R M; Eisenberg, M; Sharp, K A; McLaughlin, S

    1995-03-01

    We used the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation to calculate electrostatic potentials in the aqueous phase adjacent to model phospholipid bilayers containing mixtures of zwitterionic lipids (phosphatidylcholine) and acidic lipids (phosphatidylserine or phosphatidylglycerol). The aqueous phase (relative permittivity, epsilon r = 80) contains 0.1 M monovalent salt. When the bilayers contain equipotential surfaces are discrete domes centered over the negatively charged lipids and are approximately twice the value calculated using Debye-Hückel theory. When the bilayers contain > 25% acidic lipid, the -25 mV equipotential profiles are essentially flat and agree well with the values calculated using Gouy-Chapman theory. When the bilayers contain 100% acidic lipid, all of the equipotential surfaces are flat and agree with Gouy-Chapman predictions (including the -100 mV surface, which is located only 1 A from the outermost atoms). Even our model bilayers are not simple systems: the charge on each lipid is distributed over several atoms, these partial charges are non-coplanar, there is a 2 A ion-exclusion region (epsilon r = 80) adjacent to the polar headgroups, and the molecular surface is rough. We investigated the effect of these four factors using smooth (or bumpy) epsilon r = 2 slabs with embedded point charges: these factors had only minor effects on the potential in the aqueous phase.

  4. Mechanical and thermal stability of graphene and graphene-based materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galashev, A. E.; Rakhmanova, O. R.

    2014-10-01

    Graphene has rapidly become one of the most popular materials for technological applications and a test material for new condensed matter ideas. This paper reviews the mechanical properties of graphene and effects related to them that have recently been discovered experimentally or predicted theoretically or by simulation. The topics discussed are of key importance for graphene's use in integrated electronics, thermal materials, and electromechanical devices and include the following: graphene transformation into other sp^2 hybridization forms; stability to stretching and compression; ion-beam-induced structural modifications; how defects and graphene edges affect the electronic properties and thermal stability of graphene and related composites.

  5. Nonlinear graphene plasmonics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ooi, Kelvin J. A.; Tan, Dawn T. H.

    2017-10-01

    The rapid development of graphene has opened up exciting new fields in graphene plasmonics and nonlinear optics. Graphene's unique two-dimensional band structure provides extraordinary linear and nonlinear optical properties, which have led to extreme optical confinement in graphene plasmonics and ultrahigh nonlinear optical coefficients, respectively. The synergy between graphene's linear and nonlinear optical properties gave rise to nonlinear graphene plasmonics, which greatly augments graphene-based nonlinear device performance beyond a billion-fold. This nascent field of research will eventually find far-reaching revolutionary technological applications that require device miniaturization, low power consumption and a broad range of operating wavelengths approaching the far-infrared, such as optical computing, medical instrumentation and security applications.

  6. Graphene aerogels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauzauskie, Peter J; Worsley, Marcus A; Baumann, Theodore F; Satcher, Jr., Joe H; Biener, Juergen

    2015-03-31

    Graphene aerogels with high conductivity and surface areas including a method for making a graphene aerogel, including the following steps: (1) preparing a reaction mixture comprising a graphene oxide suspension and at least one catalyst; (2) curing the reaction mixture to produce a wet gel; (3) drying the wet gel to produce a dry gel; and (4) pyrolyzing the dry gel to produce a graphene aerogel. Applications include electrical energy storage including batteries and supercapacitors.

  7. Phase separation in lipid bilayers triggered by low pH

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suresh, Swetha; Edwardson, J. Michael

    2010-01-01

    Research highlights: → Lipid bilayers have been imaged by atomic force microscopy (AFM). → At pH 5 phase separation occurs in lipid bilayers containing mixed acyl chains. → Phase separation does not occur when lipids have only unsaturated chains. → Phase separation might drive protein clustering during endocytosis. -- Abstract: Endocytosis involves the capture of membrane from the cell surface in the form of vesicles, which become rapidly acidified to about pH 5. Here we show using atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging that this degree of acidification triggers phase separation in lipid bilayers containing mixed acyl chains (e.g. palmitoyl/oleoyl) or complex mixtures (e.g. total brain extract) but not in bilayers containing only lipids with unsaturated chains (e.g. dioleoyl). Since mixed-chain lipids are major constituents of the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane, the type of phase separation reported here might support protein clustering and signaling during endocytosis.

  8. Dynamics, Surface Electrostatics and Phase Properties of Nanoscale Curved Lipid Bilayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koolivand, Amir

    Surface electrostatic potential of a lipid bilayer governs many vital functions of living cells. Several classes of proteins are known of exhibiting strong binding preferences to curved lipid bilayer surfaces. In this project we employed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) of a recently introduced phospholipid (IMTSL-PTE) bearing a pH-sensitive nitroxide covalently attached to the lipid head group to measure the surface electrostatics of the lipid membrane and nanopore-confined lipid bilayers as a function of the bilayer curvature. The pKa of the ionizable group of this lipid-based spin probe is reporting on the bilayer surface electrostatics potential by changes in the EPR spectra. Specifically, both rotational dynamics and magnetic parameters of the nitroxide are affected by the probe protonation. Effect of curvature on the surface electrostatic potential and dynamics of lipid bilayer was studied for POPG and DMPG unilamellar vesicles (ULVs). It was found that the magnitude of the negative surface electrostatic potential increased upon decrease in the vesicle diameter for the bilayers in the fluid phase; however, no significant changes were observed for DMPG ULVs in a gel phase. We speculate that biologically relevant fluid bilayer phase allows for a larger variability in the lipid packing density in the lipid polar head group region than a more ordered gel phase and it is likely that the lipid flip-flop is responsible for pH equilibration of IMTSL-PTE. The kinetic EPR study of nitroxide reduction showed that the rate of flip-flop is in the order of 10-5 s-1. The flip-flop rate constant increases when vesicle size deceases. Oxygen permeability measured by X-ban EPR decreases in higher curved vesicles---an observation that is consistent with a tighter packing in smaller vesicles. Partitioning of a small nitroxide molecule TEMPO into ULVs was measured by X-band (9 GHz) and W-band (95 GHz) EPR spectroscopy. The partitioning coefficient of this probe in the lipid

  9. Model for the structure of the lipid bilayer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pastor, R.W.; Venable, R.M.; Karplus, M.

    1991-01-01

    A detailed model for the structure and dynamics of the interior of the lipid bilayer in the liquid crystal phase is presented. The model includes two classes of motion: (i) the internal dynamics of the chains, determined from Brownian dynamics simulations with a continuous version of the Marcelja mean-field potential, and (ii) noncollective reorientation (axial rotation and wobble) of the entire molecule, introduced by a cone model. The basic unit of the model is a single lipid chain with field parameters adjusted to fit the 2H order parameters and the frequency-dependent 13C NMR T1 relaxation times of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine bilayers. The chain configurations obtained from the trajectory are used to construct a representation of the bilayer. The resulting lipid assembly is consistent with NMR, neutron diffraction, surface area, and density data. It indicates that a high degree of chain disorder and entanglement exists in biological membranes

  10. Superlubric sliding of graphene nanoflakes on graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Xiaofeng; Kwon, Sangku; Park, Jeong Young; Salmeron, Miquel

    2013-02-26

    The lubricating properties of graphite and graphene have been intensely studied by sliding a frictional force microscope tip against them to understand the origin of the observed low friction. In contrast, the relative motion of free graphene layers remains poorly understood. Here we report a study of the sliding behavior of graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) on a graphene surface. Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we found that the GNFs show facile translational and rotational motions between commensurate initial and final states at temperatures as low as 5 K. The motion is initiated by a tip-induced transition of the flakes from a commensurate to an incommensurate registry with the underlying graphene layer (the superlubric state), followed by rapid sliding until another commensurate position is reached. Counterintuitively, the average sliding distance of the flakes is larger at 5 K than at 77 K, indicating that thermal fluctuations are likely to trigger their transitions from superlubric back to commensurate ground states.

  11. Extension of the Mott-Gurney Law for a Bilayer Gap

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubinov, A. E.; Kitayev, I. N.

    2018-04-01

    Steady drift states of an electron flow in a planar gap filled with a bilayer dielectric have been considered. Exact mathematical formulas have been derived that describe the distributions of the electrostatic potential and space charge limited electron flow current (extended Mott-Gurney law for a bilayer diode).

  12. Anomalous friction of graphene nanoribbons on waved graphenes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Fang

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Friction plays a critical role in the function and maintenance of small-scale structures, where the conventional Coulomb friction law often fails. To probe the friction at small scales, here we present a molecular dynamics study on the process of dragging graphene nanoribbons on waved graphene substrates. The simulation shows that the induced friction on graphene with zero waviness is ultra-low and closely related to the surface energy barrier. On waved graphenes, the friction generally increases with the amplitude of the wave at a fixed period, but anomalously increases and then decreases with the period at a fixed amplitude. These findings provide insights into the ultra-low friction at small scales, as well as some guidelines into the fabrication of graphene-based nano-composites with high performance.

  13. Regulation of membrane protein function by lipid bilayer elasticity—a single molecule technology to measure the bilayer properties experienced by an embedded protein

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lundbæk, Jens August

    2008-01-01

    , regulate a number of structurally unrelated proteins in an apparently non-specific manner. It is well known that changes in the physical properties of a lipid bilayer (e.g., thickness or monolayer spontaneous curvature) can affect the function of an embedded protein. However, the role of such changes......-dependent sodium channels, N-type calcium channels and GABAA receptors, it has been shown that membrane protein function in living cells can be regulated by amphiphile induced changes in bilayer elasticity. Using the gramicidin channel as a molecular force transducer, a nanotechnology to measure the elastic...... properties experienced by an embedded protein has been developed. A theoretical and technological framework, to study the regulation of membrane protein function by lipid bilayer elasticity, has been established....

  14. OGLE-2017-BLG-0373Lb: A Jovian Mass-Ratio Planet Exposes A New Accidental Microlensing Degeneracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skowron, J.; Ryu, Y.-H.; Hwang, K.-H.; Udalski, A.; Mrǎłz, P.; Kozłowski, S.; Soszyński, I.; Pietrukowicz, P.; Szymański, P. K.; Poleski, R.; Ulaczyk, K.; Pawlak, M.; Rybicki, K.; Iwanek, P.; Albrow, M. D.; Chung, S.-J.; Gould, A.; Han, C.; Jung, Y. K.; Shin, I.-G.; Shvartzvald, Y.; Yee, J. C.; Zang, W.; Zhu, W.; Cha, S.-M.; Kim, D.-J.; Kim, H.-W.; Kim, S.-L.; Lee, C.-U.; Lee, D.-J.; Lee, Y.; Park, B.-G.; Pogge, R. W.

    2018-03-01

    We report the discovery of microlensing planet OGLE-2017-BLG-0373Lb. We show that while the planet-host system has an unambiguous microlens topology, there are two geometries within this topology that fit the data equally well, which leads to a factor 2.5 difference in planet-host mass ratio, i.e., q=1.5×10-3 vs. q=0.6×10-3. We show that this is an "accidental degeneracy" in the sense that it is due to a gap in the data. We dub it "the caustic-chirality degeneracy". We trace the mathematical origins of this degeneracy, which should enable similar degenerate solutions to be easily located in the future. A Bayesian estimate, based on a Galactic model, yields a host mass M=0.25+0.30-0.15 M⊙ at a distance DL=5.9+1.3-1.95 kpc. The lens-source relative proper motion is relatively fast, μ=9 mas/yr, which implies that the host mass and distance can be determined by high-resolution imaging after about 10 years. The same observations could in principle resolve the discrete degeneracy in q, but this will be more challenging.

  15. Localized in situ polymerization on graphene surfaces for stabilized graphene dispersions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, Sriya; Wajid, Ahmed S; Shelburne, John L; Liao, Yen-Chih; Green, Micah J

    2011-06-01

    We demonstrate a novel in situ polymerization technique to develop localized polymer coatings on the surface of dispersed pristine graphene sheets. Graphene sheets show great promise as strong, conductive fillers in polymer nanocomposites; however, difficulties in dispersion quality and interfacial strength between filler and matrix have been a persistent problem for graphene-based nanocomposites, particularly for pristine graphene. With this in mind, a physisorbed polymer layer is used to stabilize graphene sheets in solution. To create this protective layer, we formed an organic microenvironment around dispersed graphene sheets in surfactant solutions, and created a nylon 6, 10 or nylon 6, 6 coating via interfacial polymerization. Technique lies at the intersection of emulsion and admicellar polymerization; a similar technique was originally developed to protect luminescent properties of carbon nanotubes in solution. These coated graphene dispersions are aggregation-resistant and may be reversibly redispersed in water even after freeze-drying. The coated graphene holds promise for a number of applications, including multifunctional graphene-polymer nanocomposites. © 2011 American Chemical Society

  16. Thermodynamics and kinetics of graphene chemistry: a graphene hydrogenation prototype study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pham, Buu Q; Gordon, Mark S

    2016-12-07

    The thermodynamic and kinetic controls of graphene chemistry are studied computationally using a graphene hydrogenation reaction and polyaromatic hydrocarbons to represent the graphene surface. Hydrogen atoms are concertedly chemisorped onto the surface of graphene models of different shapes (i.e., all-zigzag, all-armchair, zigzag-armchair mixed edges) and sizes (i.e., from 16-42 carbon atoms). The second-order Z-averaged perturbation theory (ZAPT2) method combined with Pople double and triple zeta basis sets are used for all calculations. It is found that both the net enthalpy change and the barrier height of graphene hydrogenation at graphene edges are lower than at their interior surfaces. While the thermodynamic product distribution is mainly determined by the remaining π-islands of functionalized graphenes (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013, 15, 3725-3735), the kinetics of the reaction is primarily correlated with the localization of the electrostatic potential of the graphene surface.

  17. Anomalous Hall effect in Fe/Gd bilayers

    KAUST Repository

    Xu, W. J.; Zhang, Bei; Liu, Z. X.; Wang, Z.; Li, W.; Wu, Z. B.; Yu, R. H.; Zhang, Xixiang

    2010-01-01

    Non-monotonic dependence of anomalous Hall resistivity on temperature and magnetization, including a sign change, was observed in Fe/Gd bilayers. To understand the intriguing observations, we fabricated the Fe/Gd bilayers and single layers of Fe and Gd simultaneously. The temperature and field dependences of longitudinal resistivity, Hall resistivity and magnetization in these films have also been carefully measured. The analysis of these data reveals that these intriguing features are due to the opposite signs of Hall resistivity/or spin polarization and different Curie temperatures of Fe and Gd single-layer films. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2010

  18. Anomalous Hall effect in Fe/Gd bilayers

    KAUST Repository

    Xu, W. J.

    2010-04-01

    Non-monotonic dependence of anomalous Hall resistivity on temperature and magnetization, including a sign change, was observed in Fe/Gd bilayers. To understand the intriguing observations, we fabricated the Fe/Gd bilayers and single layers of Fe and Gd simultaneously. The temperature and field dependences of longitudinal resistivity, Hall resistivity and magnetization in these films have also been carefully measured. The analysis of these data reveals that these intriguing features are due to the opposite signs of Hall resistivity/or spin polarization and different Curie temperatures of Fe and Gd single-layer films. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2010

  19. Probing graphene defects and estimating graphene quality with optical microscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lai, Shen; Kyu Jang, Sung; Jae Song, Young; Lee, Sungjoo

    2014-01-01

    We report a simple and accurate method for detecting graphene defects that utilizes the mild, dry annealing of graphene/Cu films in air. In contrast to previously reported techniques, our simple approach with optical microscopy can determine the density and degree of dislocation of defects in a graphene film without inducing water-related damage or functionalization. Scanning electron microscopy, confocal Raman and atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis were performed to demonstrate that our nondestructive approach to characterizing graphene defects with optimized thermal annealing provides rapid and comprehensive determinations of graphene quality

  20. Thinning of multilayer graphene to monolayer graphene in a plasma environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hazra, K S; Misra, D S; Rafiee, J; Rafiee, M A; Koratkar, N; Mathur, A; Roy, S S; McLauhglin, J

    2011-01-01

    We present a facile approach to transform multilayer graphene to single-layer graphene in a gradual thinning process. Our technique is based upon gradual etching of multilayer graphene in a hydrogen and nitrogen plasma environment. High resolution transmission microscopy, selected area electron diffraction and Raman spectroscopy confirm the transformation of multilayer graphene to monolayer graphene at a substrate temperature of ∼ 400 0 C. The shift in the position of the G-band peak shows a perfect linear dependence with substrate temperature, which indicates a controlled gradual etching process. Selected area electron diffraction also confirmed the removal of functional groups from the graphene surface due to the plasma treatment. We also show that plasma treatment can be used to engineer graphene nanomesh structures.