Graphene Microtubings: Controlled Fabrication and Site-Specific Functionalization

Editor(s)

Alivisatos, A. Paul and Lieber, Charles M.

Abstract

Manipulating graphene through engineering for macroscopic assemblies of practical importance is a big challenge. We develop a dually geometric confinement approach for the scalable preparation of meter-long graphene microtubings µGTs) with a tunable diameter. They have strength comparable to graphene fiber and can be shaped to hierarchical multichannel µGT systems in a straightforward way. Of particular importance,µGTs can be selectively functionalized in a site-specific outer-wall, inner-wall, outer/inner-wall, and within-wall fashion, which endows the µGTs with unique properties for desirable applications. Apart from the magnetically and photoelectronically responsive µGTs developed here, a self-powered micromotor made of Pt inner-wall modified µGT showing agile motion in aqueous medium has been also achieved. Beyond the applications demonstrated in this study, the well-defined µGT systems can also play essential role in other important fields such as fluidics, catalysis, purification, separation, and sensing.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Graphene; Macroscopic Assembly; Microtubing; Site-Specific Functionalization; Micromotor

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1530-6984

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2012 American Chemical Society (ACS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2012

Link to Full Text

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