Hybrid Electrolyte Enhances Supercapacitance in Vertical Graphene Nanosheets

Supercapacitors can store more energy than and are preferable to batteries because they are able to charge faster mainly due to the vertical graphene nanosheets (VGNs) that are larger and positioned closer together. VGNs are 3-D networks of carbon nanomaterial that grow in rows of vertical sheets, providing a large surface area for greater charge storage capacity. Also called carbon nanowalls or graphene nanoflakes, VGNs offer promise in high-power energy storage systems, fuel cells, bio sensors and magnetic devices, amongst others.

/0 Comments/by

Growing Carbon: UW researchers derive graphene from coal

Wyoming-mined coal could be a cheap source for graphene — a material with implications for electronics, aerospace technologies and other industries — which has fascinated scientists for more than a decade. At least that’s the hope of some researchers at the University of Wyoming who are investigating methods for “growing” graphene and other useful carbon materials from coal.

/1 Comment/by

A transistor of graphene nanoribbons

Graphene ribbons that are only a few atoms wide, so-called graphene nanoribbons, have special electrical properties that make them promising candidates for the nanoelectronics of the future: While graphene – a one atom thin, honeycomb-shaped carbon layer – is a conductive material, it can become a semiconductor in the form of nanoribbons. This means that it has a sufficiently large energy or band gap in which no electron states can exist: it can be turned on and off – and thus may become a key component of nanotransistors.

/0 Comments/by

Graphene takes the strain in stretchable transistors

Graphene’s unique combination of electrical and physical properties marks it out as a potential candidate for transparent, stretchable electronics, which could enable a new generation of sophisticated displays, wearable health monitors, or soft robotic devices. But, although graphene is atomically thin, highly transparent, conductive, and more stretchable than conventional indium tin oxide electrodes, it still tends to crack at small strains.

/1 Comment/by

Controlling Light With Gold And Graphene

Using a pierced gold sheet coated in graphene, scientists have created thin lenses that can be used to manipulate the intensity and polarity of light. Scientists in South Korea and the United Kingdom have developed optical devices made of graphene and gold which can control the intensity and polarity of light. They published their findings in Advanced Optical Materials.

/1 Comment/by