Focus
Graphene applications
- Focus issue:
- October 2014 Volume 9 No 10
Image: © BUMBASOR/ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK
As a result of significant scientific and technological progress over the past ten years, the commercialization of products based on graphene and related two-dimensional materials is within reach in a range of areas, from consumer electronics to energy storage. This focus reviews the fundamental properties of graphene that are relevant to electronic and other applications, and discusses the opportunities and challenges of commercializing graphene technologies.
Editorial
Ten years in two dimensions - p725
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.244
Are graphene technologies ready for commercialization?
Commentaries
The global growth of graphene pp726 - 730
Wencai Ren & Hui-Ming Cheng
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.229
The large-scale production of graphene aimed at industrial applications has grown significantly in the past few years, especially since many companies in China have entered the market.
Challenges and opportunities in graphene commercialization pp730 - 734
Amaia Zurutuza & Claudio Marinelli
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.225
As technical knowledge, manufacturing methods and the development of applications mature, key factors will affect the pace of commercialization of graphene.
Feature
Things you could do with graphene p737
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.245
We asked seven experts in their fields to share their views on the potential and challenges in the realization of graphene-based products in a range of technologies.
Graphene for displays that bend pp737 - 738
Jong-Hyun Ahn & Byung Hee Hong
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.226
Jong-Hyun Ahn and Byung Hee Hong discuss how graphene can be used in the development of flexible electronics.
Electrifying inks with 2D materials pp738 - 739
Felice Torrisi & Jonathan N. Coleman
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.218
Felice Torrisi and Jonathan N. Coleman describe how graphene can be used in conductive inks to print electronic circuits.
Charging graphene for energy pp739 - 741
Jun Liu
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.233
Energy storage is a grand challenge for future energy infrastructure, transportation and consumer electronics. Jun Liu discusses how graphene may — or may not — be used to improve various electrochemical energy storage devices.
Graphene against corrosion pp741 - 742
Siva Böhm
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.220
Siva Böhm discusses how graphene can be used to prevent corrosion of metals such as steel.
Sequencing with graphene pores p743
Marija Drndić
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.232
Solid-state nanopores are often used for biomolecular analysis, but have so far been unable to sequence DNA. Marija Drndić asks whether nanopores made in graphene could fulfil all of the requirements needed for sequencing.
Graphene devices for life pp744 - 745
Kostas Kostarelos & Kostya S. Novoselov
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.224
Kostas Kostarelos and Kostya S. Novoselov examine the potential of graphene in biomedical applications.
Graphene in the sky and beyond pp745 - 747
Emilie J. Siochi
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.231
Emilie J. Siochi explains how most of the properties of graphene could be of use in aerospace applications.
Reviews
Polycrystalline graphene and other two-dimensional materials pp755 - 767
Oleg V. Yazyev & Yong P. Chen
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.166
This Review discusses the recent experimental and theoretical findings on polycrystalline graphene and related materials.
Electronics based on two-dimensional materials pp768 - 779
Gianluca Fiori, Francesco Bonaccorso, Giuseppe Iannaccone, Tomás Palacios, Daniel Neumaier, Alan Seabaugh, Sanjay K. Banerjee & Luigi Colombo
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.207
The potential and challenges for electronic applications of graphene and other 2D materials are explored in this Review.
Photodetectors based on graphene, other two-dimensional materials and hybrid systems pp780 - 793
F. H. L. Koppens, T. Mueller, Ph. Avouris, A. C. Ferrari, M. S. Vitiello & M. Polini
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.215
This article reviews recent advances in the application of 2D materials for the detection of light in various frequency ranges.
Graphene spintronics pp794 - 807
Wei Han, Roland K. Kawakami, Martin Gmitra & Jaroslav Fabian
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.214
Spin-dependent phenomena and applications in graphene and other 2D materials are discussed in this Review.
From the archives
Reviews
Raman spectroscopy as a versatile tool for studying the properties of graphene pp235 - 246
Andrea C. Ferrari & Denis M. Basko
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.46
Advances in the understanding of Raman processes in graphene have made it an essential tool for studying the properties of this one-atom-thick carbon material.
Electronics and optoelectronics of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides pp699 - 712
Qing Hua Wang, Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh, Andras Kis, Jonathan N. Coleman & Michael S. Strano
doi:10.1038/nnano.2012.193
Single-layer metal dichalcogenides are two-dimensional semiconductors that present strong potential for electronic and sensing applications complementary to that of graphene.
Progress article
Low-frequency 1/f noise in graphene devices pp549 - 555
Alexander A. Balandin
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.144
This Progress Article examines the characteristic features of low-frequency electronic noise in graphene, and discusses the implications and potential applications of such noise in graphene-based electronic devices.
Letters
Solar-energy conversion and light emission in an atomic monolayer p–n diode pp257 - 261
Andreas Pospischil, Marco M. Furchi & Thomas Mueller
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.14
A p–n junction is fabricated in a monolayer of WSe2, which can be used as a solar cell, a photodiode and a light-emitting diode.
Optoelectronic devices based on electrically tunable p–n diodes in a monolayer dichalcogenide pp262 - 267
Britton W. H. Baugher, Hugh O. H. Churchill, Yafang Yang & Pablo Jarillo-Herrero
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.25
An electrostatically defined p–n junction in monolayer WSe2 is employed for photodetection, photovoltaic operation and as a light-emitting diode.
Electrically tunable excitonic light-emitting diodes based on monolayer WSe2 p–n junctions pp268 - 272
Jason S. Ross, Philip Klement, Aaron M. Jones, Nirmal J. Ghimire, Jiaqiang Yan, D. G. Mandrus, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Kenji Kitamura, Wang Yao, David H. Cobden & Xiaodong Xu
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.26
Bright and electrostatically tunable electroluminescence from monolayer WSe2 p–n junctions is reported.
Graphene photodetectors with ultra-broadband and high responsivity at room temperature pp273 - 278
Chang-Hua Liu, You-Chia Chang, Theodore B. Norris & Zhaohui Zhong
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.31
A pair of stacked graphene layers separated by a tunnel barrier show sensitive photodetection capabilities.
Graphene mechanical oscillators with tunable frequency pp923 - 927
Changyao Chen, Sunwoo Lee, Vikram V. Deshpande, Gwan-Hyoung Lee, Michael Lekas, Kenneth Shepard & James Hone
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.232
Self-sustained graphene mechanical oscillators with tunable frequencies are fabricated and used to demonstrate frequency-modulated audio transmission.
Electronic and plasmonic phenomena at graphene grain boundaries pp821 - 825
Z. Fei, A. S. Rodin, W. Gannett, S. Dai, W. Regan, M. Wagner, M. K. Liu, A. S. McLeod, G. Dominguez, M. Thiemens, Antonio H. Castro Neto, F. Keilmann, A. Zettl, R. Hillenbrand, M. M. Fogler & D. N. Basov
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.197
Individual grain boundaries are imaged using a scanning plasmon interferometry technique, revealing mechanistic insights on electronic transport and plasmon propagation in graphene.
Graphene-MoS2 hybrid structures for multifunctional photoresponsive memory devices pp826 - 830
Kallol Roy, Medini Padmanabhan, Srijit Goswami, T. Phanindra Sai, Gopalakrishnan Ramalingam, Srinivasan Raghavan & Arindam Ghosh
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.206
Graphene–MoS2 hybrid structures show potential for optical memory devices because of their high photodetection sensitivity, and their persistent photoconductivity that can be tuned by a gate voltage.
Sensitive capture of circulating tumour cells by functionalized graphene oxide nanosheets pp735 - 741
Hyeun Joong Yoon, Tae Hyun Kim, Zhuo Zhang, Ebrahim Azizi, Trinh M. Pham, Costanza Paoletti, Jules Lin, Nithya Ramnath, Max S. Wicha, Daniel F. Hayes, Diane M. Simeone & Sunitha Nagrath
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.194
Circulating tumour cells from patients with early-stage cancers have now been captured and characterized by using functionalized graphene oxide nanosheets.
Ultrasensitive photodetectors based on monolayer MoS2 pp497 - 501
Oriol Lopez-Sanchez, Dominik Lembke, Metin Kayci, Aleksandra Radenovic & Andras Kis
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.100
A very sensitive photodector based on molybdenum disulphide with potential for integrated optoelectronic circuits, light sensing, biomedical imaging, video recording or spectroscopy is now demonstrated.
Vertical field-effect transistor based on graphene-WS2 heterostructures for flexible and transparent electronics pp100 - 103
Thanasis Georgiou, Rashid Jalil, Branson D. Belle, Liam Britnell, Roman V. Gorbachev, Sergey V. Morozov, Yong-Jin Kim, Ali Gholinia, Sarah J. Haigh, Oleg Makarovsky, Laurence Eaves, Leonid A. Ponomarenko, Andre K. Geim, Kostya S. Novoselov & Artem Mishchenko
doi:10.1038/nnano.2012.224
A tunnelling transistor based on stacks of chemically grown graphene and other two-dimensional layers shows record performance.
Selective molecular sieving through porous graphene pp728 - 732
Steven P. Koenig, Luda Wang, John Pellegrino & J. Scott Bunch
doi:10.1038/nnano.2012.162
Selective molecular sieves can be created from porous, micrometre-sized graphene membranes using oxidative etching.
Graphene coating makes carbon nanotube aerogels superelastic and resistant to fatigue pp562 - 566
Kyu Hun Kim, Youngseok Oh & M. F. Islam
doi:10.1038/nnano.2012.118
A mechanically fragile aerogel made of single-walled carbon nanotubes can be transformed into a superelastic material by coating it with graphene.
Articles
Black phosphorus field-effect transistors pp372 - 377
Likai Li, Yijun Yu, Guo Jun Ye, Qingqin Ge, Xuedong Ou, Hua Wu, Donglai Feng, Xian Hui Chen & Yuanbo Zhang
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.35
Field-effect transistors with good electrical performance at room temperature are fabricated from few-layer black phosphorus.
Generating electricity by moving a droplet of ionic liquid along graphene pp378 - 383
Jun Yin, Xuemei Li, Jin Yu, Zhuhua Zhang, Jianxin Zhou & Wanlin Guo
doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.56
A voltage of a few millivolts can be generated by moving a droplet of ionic solution along a strip of monolayer graphene.
Detecting the translocation of DNA through a nanopore using graphene nanoribbons pp939 - 945
F. Traversi, C. Raillon, S. M. Benameur, K. Liu, S. Khlybov, M. Tosun, D. Krasnozhon, A. Kis & A. Radenovic
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.240
A solid-state nanopore can be integrated with a graphene nanoribbon transistor to create a sensor that can detect DNA molecules using both the ionic current and the electrical current in the graphene nanoribbon.
Highly efficient gate-tunable photocurrent generation in vertical heterostructures of layered materials pp952 - 958
Woo Jong Yu, Yuan Liu, Hailong Zhou, Anxiang Yin, Zheng Li, Yu Huang & Xiangfeng Duan
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.219
Efficient photocurrent generation, which can be tuned by the electric field of a gate to reach both high external and internal quantum efficiencies, is shown to occur in vertical heterostructures comprising graphene, MoS2 and metals.
Destructive extraction of phospholipids from Escherichia coli membranes by graphene nanosheets pp594 - 601
Yusong Tu, Min Lv, Peng Xiu, Tien Huynh, Meng Zhang, Matteo Castelli, Zengrong Liu, Qing Huang, Chunhai Fan, Haiping Fang & Ruhong Zhou
doi:10.1038/nnano.2013.125
Computer simulations reveal that graphene nanosheets damage bacteria by penetrating into or extracting phospholipids from the cell membranes, offering new insights into the molecular basis of graphene cytotoxicity.