Material scientists from Rice University have identified a basic technique that enables engineers to produce electronic circuits easily from a nanomaterial called graphene.
With nanotechnology tools, scientists can now study, manipulate, and develop graphene easily. Graphene, a single-atom-thick carbon layer, is equipped with special properties that make it suitable for producing energy-efficient, rapid computers and several other nanotechnology-based electronic devices. In order to create graphene-based minute circuits, it is necessary for engineers to develop complex graphene patterns separated by a similar kind of thin non-conductive material. One such material is white graphene comprising single-atom-thick nitrogen and boron sheets. White graphene has similar physical properties as graphene, but is electrically non-conductive.
Rice’s materials scientist, Boris Yakobson stated that his team had spent almost one year to understand correctly the energy distribution process that occurs between every atom of nitrogen, boron, and carbon during the process of “alloy” formation. This study of the bonding energies occurring between atoms and the way it gets allotted to specific interfaces and edges serves as a platform for transforming synthesis to morphology and then to the functional product.
Yakobson stated that the functional properties of the end product are directly related to the chemical conditions prevailing during its creation. At the time of chemical synthesis, if the availability of boron is in excess, then it results in alloys addressing specific kind of atoms’ geometric arrangement, he added. The highlight of this finding is that the electronic properties of the end product, which depend upon the chemical potential, can be accurately predicted, he stated.
The research was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, and the Department of Energy. The National Science Foundation and the National Institute for Computational Sciences supported the process-computing resources.
Source: http://www.media.rice.edu/