A new Micro and Nano-Fabrication Facility has been inaugurated at the Graphene Research Centre of the National University of Singapore (NUS). The new facility is the first-of-its-kind nano-science and nano-technology center in the Asian region devoted to graphene research.
In August 2010, the Graphene Research Centre was established as part of the NUS Faculty of Science. The center, which aims at establishing its dominance in the up-and-coming graphene research field, is working on projects with a total value of more than S$100 million. Professor Antonio H. Castro Neto, a renowned scientist in the graphene research field, is the head of the center, which was designed under the guidance of Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, Manchester University researchers who discovered graphene.
The Graphene Research Centre features an advanced clean room facility and a 1,000-square-meter- laboratory space. The clean room facility comprises an 800-square-meter operational space and a 200-square-meter office space. At present, the center has 19 scientists overseeing 16 research projects that focus fields ranging from nanotechnology to medicine.
Extensive research work is going on across the world for the commercialization of graphene. The nanomaterial, which is grown by a process called the chemical vapor deposition technique, shows promise to transform the industry of transparent conductive coatings, which are crucial for the photovoltaic, touch panel and modern display industries. Conversely, solution-processed graphene holds potential on composite materials, catalysts and batteries.
To push the boundaries of materials research in Singapore, researchers at the Graphene Research Centre are investigating a new type of atomically thin material, which has capabilities that graphene does not.
Source: http://www.nus.edu.sg/