A new step towards graphene-based electronics

University of Manchester scientists have helped demonstrate that long, structurally well-defined ribbons of graphene can be made.

Writing in Nature Chemistry, researchers used different characterisation techniques, including Raman spectroscopy – led by Dr Cinzia Casiraghi and her group – to confirm that these ribbons, called GNRs, are structurally well-defined and have excellent charge-carrier mobility.

The newly developed approach was developed by Prof Muellen and Dr Feng from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research allows unprecedented longitudinal extension of GNRs while preserving their high structural definition.

Current approaches do not allow production of highly structurally-defined and narrow GNRs suitable for electronics. Therefore, it is hoped that this development will allow graphene to be used in transistors.

Dr Casiraghi says, ''The GNRs produced with this method can allow development of graphene-based transistors, but they can also be used as active material in solar cells, chemical sensors and as novel energy storage material.

"Because of the potential uses of this material, Raman spectroscopy is expected to play a crucial role in determining the optical and electronic properties of the ribbons."