NT 601: EMERGING NANOMATERIALS

GRAPHENE: FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES

AND APPLICATIONS

SUBMITTED BY
B. SUMANTH
R.NO : 20ENPT02
CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION TO GRAPHENE

2. STRUCTURE

3. PROPERTIES

3.1 ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES

3.2 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

4. APPLICATIONS

4.1 ELECTRO OPTICAL DEVICES

4.2 IR DETECTORS

5. REFERENCES
1. INTRODUCTION

Graphene is 2-dimensional nanomaterial with carbon atoms arranged in honeycomb

lattice structure with a thickness of 0.34nm. Graphene can be arranged in different shapes like
Carbon nanotubes, Fullerene, Graphite. Initially in 2004, two scientists Andrei Geim and
Kostya Novoselov developed the graphene using scotch tape method for mechanical
exfoliation technique for production of graphene (Novoselov et al., 2004, 2005). Graphene has
become the path for research in graphene like materials as it has unique properties which can
be used in many applications in different fields of science that are helpful for the mankind.
The properties like high electron mobility, optical transparency, tensile strength and few
other. These properties are used in many applications and a lot of research is going in this
field.

2. STRUCTURE
Graphene is a 2-dimensional single layer thin sheet with a thickness of 0.34nm. The c
atoms in graphene are arranged in honeycomb lattice structure with sp2 hybridization. Carbon
atomic number is 6 and its electron configuration is 1s22s22p2 where one electron from 2s
orbital is excited to 2p orbital making 4 unpaired electrons. The unpaired electrons are
bonded with other carbon atoms making 3 σ bonds and the unpaired electron is delocalized π
bond perpendicular to the graphene layer which overlaps with the c atom of another graphene
layer. The bond length between two carbon atoms is 0.142nm and the electrons in the valence
band and conduction band are given and the point where both the bands meet is called Dirac
point.
 DOI: 10.5772/61316

Schaffel, F., Warner, J. H
., Rummeli, M., Bachmatiuk, A. (2012). Graphene: Fundamentals and Emergent
Applications. Netherlands: Elsevier Science.

Graphene forms different types of shapes like carbon nanotube, fullerenes,

graphite. Fullerenes are of different types, shape of the c atoms arrangement is pentagonal
and hexagonal lattice and the most stable fullerenes are C60 and C70.
DOI:10.5772/intechopen.73487
Graphene honeycomb lattice structure is arranged by placing one layer of graphene over
other are arranged in two types is AA stacking or AB stacking ( the centre of the above layer
is displaced further). If three layers are placed one above the other then they are arranged in
ABA or ABC type of stacking.

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat0074
3.PROPERTIES

ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES

Electronic properties of graphene are widely because of the band structure of

graphene. In graphene the unpaired electrons 2S, 2Px, 2Py are bonded with 3 other carbon
atoms in the same plane and the remaining 2Pz orbital is perpendicular to the plane and do not
interact with σ electron. These highly mobile π electrons are present above and below the
graphene sheet and are overlapped with each other. The bonding and antibonding of these π
orbitals determine the electronic properties of graphene. The energy movement relation is
linear for low energies near the 6 corners of brillouin zone. The electrons and holes are called
dirac fermions and the corners are called dirac points.

The electron mobility of the graphene is very high which ranges from 10000 -15000 cm2v-1s-1
at ambient conditions but theoretically it is upto 200000 cm2v-1s-1.

As the electron mobility is high the bandgap reduces if the hole mobility is less but in the
graphene both electron and hole mobility are same.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

Mechanical properties of graphene is one of the reason graphene is highly used in

composites and the mechanical properties are shown by graphene due to the sp2 bonds
formed between the carbon atoms. By using nanoindentation method graphene stiffness is
measured.

The maximum stress is given by σm2D = (FE2D/4πR)1/2

where E2D is the second order elastic stiffness, R is the tip radius and F is the applied force. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2017.07.004

Fracture Toughness of the material is determined by an in situ micromechanical testing

device and a nano intender within the scanning electron microscope. Initially a central crack
is introduced using focused iron beam. It is found that as the crack length increases, fracture
stress decreases. So the material with more grain boundaries can have more toughness than
pristine graphene.
 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2
017.07.004

4. APPLICATIONS

ELECTRO OPTICAL DEVICES

Graphene can absorb up to a wavelength of visible to mid infra-red which can happen
with modulation in the wavelength enabled through electrostatic gating. For the electrostatic
gating to interact with the light there are two methods i.e., either by modulating the bandgap
width (absorption of modulating element) or by modifying the surface plasmon modes that
interact with the light. We cannot use pure optical device because of the thinness of the
material is too small so it is required to integrate the graphene with other components like
photonic cavities or plasmonic waveguides. The tunable graphene capacitor can be made with
the coupling of Si plasmonic nano cavities. The top and bottom graphene layers are
electrostatically doped differently from one another with varying voltages for optical
modulation of absorbed light.

Graphene on its own cannot be used as modulator or a waveguide, it has to be combined with
other materials to increase the performance of the material.
DOI: 10.5772/61316
IR DETECTORS

There are two types of IR detectors, one is thermal based IR detection and the other
is photon based IR detection. When the incident ray is absorbed the temperature in the
material is increasing which will affect the properties of the material. Thermal based IR
detectors have slow rate of absorption and high mobility with little temperature sensitivity.
To open up the bandgap different process are used, in that one is using the photo
thermoelectric effect to induce electric current in graphene due to dissimilar metal contacts. It
is only affecting the speed of the detector.

DOI: 10.5772/61316
 REFERENCES:

 Review of Graphene Technology and Its Applications for Electronic Devices

DOI: 10.5772/61316

 Nanoparticles: Properties, applications and toxicities l IbrahimKhanaKhalidSaeedbIdreesKhanc

 Graphene :Fundamentals and Emergent Applications

By Jamie H. Warner, Franziska Schaffel, Mark Rummeli, Alicja Bachmatiuk 

 DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.73487

 Stacking symmetry governed second harmonic generation in graphene trilayers. DOI:

10.1126/sciadv.aat0074