Northwestern University

Graphene, a one-atom-thick planar sheet of carbon atoms in a honeycomb lattice, has attracted substantial attention for its superlative electronic, thermal and mechanical properties.  A wide range of transformative applications, including electronic devices, sensors and composite materials, have been anticipated for graphene.  Graphene’s seemingly limitless potential was recently recognized with the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.  However, as has been shown in other materials systems, graphene’s potential could be dramatically enhanced by creating chemically modified variants of the parent material.  The team at Northwestern seeks to explore inorganic and organic chemical functionalization of graphene with the goal of establishing new classes of two-dimensional nanomaterials with tailored chemical, electrical and optical properties.  Rather than optimizing properties empirically, the approach will be to employ ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy to characterize and understand chemically modified graphene at the atomic scale.  These detailed studies will develop fundamental principles that will guide future efforts to exploit novel graphene-derived nanomaterials in numerous societally pervasive applications, such as information technology, biotechnology and renewable energy.