Peptide nanotubes based on short dipeptide diphenylalanine (FF) attract a lot of attention due to their unique physical properties ranging from strong piezoelectricity to extraordinary mechanical rigidity. In this work, we present the results of high-resolution Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM) measurements in FF microtubes prepared from the solution. First in-situ temperature measurements show that the effective shear piezoelectric coefficient d15 (proportional to axial polarization) significantly decreases (to about half of the initial value) under heating up to 100 oC. The piezoresponse becomes inhomogeneous over the surface being higher in the center of the tubes. Further, PFM study of a composite consisting of FF microtubes and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was performed. We show that piezoelectric properties of peptide microtubes are significantly modified and radial (vertical) piezoresponse appears in the presence of rGO as confirmed via PFM analysis. The results are rationalized in terms of molecular approach in which π – π molecular interaction between rGO and dipeptide is responsible for the appearance of radial component of polarization in such hybrid structures.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) composites are being explored to improve the conductivity and density of electrical wire used in aviation. Presented are the current carrying capacity of a CNT-Cu composite and Roman spectroscopy and electrical conductivity of Buckypaper (BP) made of normal and sorted 95% metallic CNT (m-CNT). The ampacity of the Cu-CNT composite was 3.8% lower than pure Cu. This is significant because it is not in agreement with high CNT ampacity claims. The average conductivity of the CNT in the sorted, 95% metallic BP was 2.5 times higher than the CNT in the un-sorted BP. This shows the importance of the intrinsic CNT conductivity as opposed to interfacial resistances and that the conductivity of the semiconductor CNT present in the un-sorted BP must be much lower than the conductivity of m-CNT. The high conductivity of the sorted BP provides proof that conductivity improvements in CNT composites can be made by the use of sorted, highly conductive m-CNT.

We have developed deposition of vertically aligned graphene sheets on Cu foils by surface wave microwave plasma CVD and the transfer from Cu foil to quartz substrate to evaluate optical reflectances and transmittances of the inherent vertical aligned graphene sheets. Both reflectance and transmittance spectra are almost independent of incident angles in the range between 300 and 800nm. The reflectance is lower than 0.067%, which is lower than those of the commercial black alumite plate. The transmittances are less than the detection limit of the system. It is considered that the obtained low reflectance is attributed to the unique structure of the vertically aligned graphene sheets.

Carbon nanotube thin film transistors (TFTs) with characteristics resembling those of TFTs constructed on amorphous silicon, low-temperature polycrystalline silicon and metal oxides were fabricated on (6,5) single chirality single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) thin film deposited from electronically pure semiconducting (6,5) single chirality single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) ink. This ink was extracted in industrial scale from raw SWCNTs produced using high pressure carbon monoxide conversion, and deposited on pretreated substrates to form uniform and consistent (6,5) HiPCO SWCNT thin film using solution process. The (6,5) HiPCO SWCNT thin films were characterized as pure semiconductor without metallic impurities showing classic nonlinear current-bias curves in Schottky-type diodes. Both N-type and P-type (6,5) HiPCO SWCNT TFTs were fabricated with femto Ampere off-current and ION/IOFF ratio of 108 by depositing SiNx and HfO2 dielectrics on the top of (6,5) HiPCO SWCNT thin films, respectively. The (6,5) HiPCO SWCNT inverter with voltage gain of 52 was also demonstrated by wire-bonding one P-type HiPCO SWCNT TFT to one N-type HiPCO SWCNT TFT.

We carried out single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) growth using a Rh catalyst on Al2O3 buffer layers that were prepared by three different methods based on electron beam (EB) evaporation: native oxidation of Al layer deposited by EB ([EB(Al)+NO]-Al2O3 layer); thermal oxidation of Al layer deposited by EB ([EB(Al)+TO]-Al2O3 layer); EB deposition of Al2O3 layer ([EB(Al2O3)]-Al2O3 layer). SWCNT yield was the largest for the [EB(Al2O3)]-Al2O3 layer, while SWCNTs were not grown on the [EB(Al)+NO]- Al2O3 layer. Transmission electron spectroscopy showed that most of Rh particle sizes were distributed between 1.0 and 2.6 nm on the [EB(Al)+NO]- Al2O3 and [EB(Al2O3)]- Al2O3 layers, while they were distributed between 1.8 and 4.2 nm on the [EB(Al)+TO]- Al2O3 layer. This result indicates that surface migration of Rh catalysts was suppressed on the [EB(Al2O3)]- Al2O3 layer, resulting in the largest SWCNT yield. On the other hand, enlargement of Rh catalyst particles occurred on the [EB(Al)+TO]- Al2O3 layer, leading to the reduction of SWCNT yield. Taking into account our previous study, inward diffusion of Rh catalysts into the Al2O3 buffer layer inhibited SWCNT growth on the [EB(Al)+NO]- Al2O3 layer, although enlargement of Rh particle size was suppressed. We also carried out ultra-violet photoemission measurements for Rh catalysts on the [EB(Al)+TO]- Al2O3 and [EB(Al2O3)]- Al2O3 layers and investigated the electronic states of Rh catalysts on them.

The electronic and transport properties of graphene nanoribbons strongly depends on different types of adatoms. Oxygen as adatom on graphene is expected to resemble oxidized graphene sheets and enable in understanding their transport properties. Here, we report the transport properties of oxygen adsorbed zigzag edge saturated graphene nanoribbon. It is interesting to note that increasing the number of oxygen adatoms on graphene sheets lift the spin degeneracy as observed in the transmission profile of graphene nanoribbons. The relative orientation of the oxygen atom on the graphene basal plane is detrimental to flow of spin current in the nanoribbon.

We fabricate and characterize metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices with graphene as the gate electrode, 5 or 10 nm thick silicon dioxide as the insulator, and silicon as the semiconductor substrate. We find that Fowler-Nordheim tunneling dominates the gate current for the 10 nm oxide device. We also study the temperature dependence of the tunneling current in these devices in the range 77 to 300 K and extract the effective tunneling barrier height as a function of temperature for the 10 nm oxide device. Furthermore, by performing high frequency capacitance-voltage measurements, we observe a local capacitance minimum under accumulation, particularly for the 5 nm oxide device. By fitting the data using numerical simulations based on the modified density of states of graphene in the presence of charged impurities, we show that this local minimum results from the quantum capacitance of graphene. These results provide important insights for the heterogeneous integration of graphene into conventional silicon technology.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) possess superior electronic properties that make them ideal candidates for making next-generation electronic circuits. However, the commercially available SWNTs that obtained directly from the viable synthesis procedures are the mixtures of semiconducting (s-) and metallic (m-) SWNTs. That shortcoming of present technologies hinders further studies and limits the scalable applications for a series of promising SWNT-based electronics. Separation of the two species is the way to solve the present dilemma. Herein, this review highlights “in situ” approaches towards selective growth of s-SWNT. The methods and techniques used for the enrichment of s-SWNTs are reviewed. Based on the understanding of the growth mechanism of those strategies, we try to propose the general guideline on that how can we develop the optimal method for the growth of s-SWNTs.

Carbon films were energetically deposited onto copper foil using the physical vapor deposition technique filtered cathodic vacuum arc. Raman spectroscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy showed that high quality graphene films of uniform thickness can be deposited onto copper foil at temperatures of 850 °C. The films can be prepared at high deposition rates (∼1 nm/min) and were comparable to graphene films grown at 1050 °C using chemical vapor deposition. This lower growth temperature was made possible by the energetic carbon flux which assisted the arrangement of carbon atoms into graphene layers on the Cu growth surface. Floating substrate potential was found to produce the highest quality graphene and the addition of hydrogen gas during film growth resulted in more defective films.

Fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to investigate how a liquid-like water droplet behaves when into contact with a nanopore formed by carbon nanotube arrays. We have considered different tube arrays, varying the spacing between them, as well as, different chemical functionalizations on the uncapped nanotubes. Our results show that simple functionalizations (for instance, hydrogen ones) allow tuning up the wetting surface properties increasing the permeation of liquid inside the nanopore. For functionalizations that increase the surface hydrophilicity, even when the pore size is significantly increased the droplet remains at the surface without tube permeation.

Graphynes and graphdiynes are carbon 2D allotrope structures presenting both sp2 and sp hybridized atoms. These materials have been theoretically predicted but due to intrinsic difficulties in their synthesis, only recently some of these structures have been experimentally realized. Graphyne nanoscrolls are structures obtained by rolling up graphyne sheets into papyrus-like structures. In this work, we have investigated, through fully atomistic reactive molecular dynamics simulations, the dynamics of nanoscroll formation for a series of graphyne (α, β, and δ types) structures. We have also investigated their thermal stability for a temperature range of 200-1000K. Our results show that stable nanoscrolls can be formed for all structures considered here. Their stability depends on a critical value of the ratio between length and height of the graphyne sheets. Our findings also show that these structures are structurally less stable then graphene-based nanoscrolls. This can be explained by the graphyne higher structural porosity which results in a decreased pi-pi stacking interactions.