Graphene articles within Nature Communications

Graphene's remarkable properties make it ideal for optoelectronic devices, and its two-dimensional nature enables its integration with photonic structures. By combining a graphene transistor with a planar microcavity, Engelet al. control the spectrum of the photocurrent and the light emitted by the device.

Current top-down and bottom-up syntheses of graphene nanostructures suffer from low yields or do not produce structures with different and controlled shapes. Here, monodisperse graphene shapes are produced by diamond-edge cutting of pyrolytic graphite followed by exfoliation.

Strain engineering has been proposed as a promising strategy for manipulating the electronic properties of graphene. This scanning tunnelling microscopy study demonstrates the feasibility of controlling strain patterns in graphene down to the nanoscale.

Electronic and optoelectronic devices based on gallium nitride suffer from self-heating arising as a result of their operation. This study presents and demonstrates a strategy for managing this problem that relies on graphene quilts which dissipate the heat away.

The terahertz spectral region is desirable for applications such as imaging or spectroscopy, but progress is hampered by a lack of efficient terahertz devices. By exploiting intraband transitions in graphene, Sensale-Rodriguezet al. demonstrate a broadband intensity modulator working at terahertz frequencies.

Graphene is characterized by unique physical properties that offer substantial promise, most notably for electronic applications. Mannooret al. present a wireless graphene-based sensor for detecting bacteria on a range of biological tissues.

A factor limiting the mobility of charge carriers in graphene, and therefore its use in electronic applications, is the Coulomb scattering due to charged impurities. By exposing graphene devices to a range of non-polar liquids, Newazet al. observe an enhancement of the mobility due to screening.

Grain boundaries in graphene degrade its properties, and large single-crystal graphene is desirable for electronic applications of graphene. Gaoet al. develop a method to produce millimetre-sized hexagonal single-crystal graphene grains, and films composed of the grains, on platinum by chemical vapour deposition.

Graphene's broad bandwidth makes it promising as a photodetector, but common electronics cannot analyse the currents at high frequencies. Here, using photocurrent measurements, laser-induced carrier generation effects in freely suspended graphene and at graphene–metal interfaces are clarified up to 1 THz.

Composite fibres made of polymers reinforced by carbon nanotubes are known for their exceptional toughness. Shinet al. make these composites even tougher, by self-aligning carbon nanotubes and reduced graphene oxide flakes within the polymer matrix.

Current methods for fabricating graphene rely on its transfer from metal surfaces to substrates suitable for device applications. This study demonstrates a transfer-free approach for growing graphene on substrates such as thermally oxidized silicon and plastic that forms the material underneath a nickel film, at the nickel–substrate interface.

Parket al. use ¹³C and ¹⁵N solid-state NMR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to study the chemical structure of hydrazine-treated graphite oxide. Hydrazine treatment is shown to lead to the incorporation of aromatic N₂moieties at the graphene edges and restore graphitic networks on the basal planes.

Chiral liquid crystals of two-dimensional colloids have not been extensively investigated. Xu and Gao show that graphene oxide can form chiral liquid crystals, and demonstrate that they can be spun into macroscopic fibres, and that subsequent chemical reduction provides graphene fibres with high conductivity.

Among the wide range of potential applications of graphene, photodetection is believed to be among the most promising. By combining graphene with plasmonic nanostructures, Duan and colleagues observe dramatic improvements in the efficiency and spectral sensitivity of graphene-based photodetectors.

The controllable modification of graphene by chemical functionalization can modulate its optical and electronic properties. Sunet al. devise a functionalisation-based method to pattern graphane/graphene superlattices within a single sheet of graphene.

Charge density waves in the structure and electron density of layered materials are closely linked to superconductivity. Using scanning tunnelling techniques, Rahnejatet al. demonstrate the occurrence of such waves in the doped graphene sheets of the superconductor CaC₆.

Graphene may be used in nanoscale electronics and devices, but the ability to synthesise uniform graphene with well-controlled layer numbers is necessary for these applications. Using a Ni–Mo alloy, this study demonstrates single-layer graphene growth with 100% surface coverage and tolerance to variations in growth conditions.

Photodetection is believed to be among the most promising potential applications for graphene. Here, by combining graphene with plasmonic nanostructures, the efficiency of graphene-based photodetectors is increased by up to two orders of magnitude.

The unoccupied electronic levels of graphene are modified by corrugation, doping and presence of impurities. Here, the authors map discrete electronic domains within a single graphene sheet using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy and provide insight into the modification of unoccupied levels.

Embedding carbon fibres in polymer matrices provides significant gains in strength and stiffness. Here, the Raman G peak of carbon fibre is studied in relation to applied strain and referenced to graphene; the work could facilitate stress measurements of carbon fibre polymer composites.

Graphene and InAs nanowires are both promising materials for coherent spin manipulation, but coupling between a quantum system and its environment leads to decoherence. Here, the contribution of electron–phonon coupling to decoherence in graphene and InAs nanowire is studied.

The mass production of high-quality reduced graphene oxide could aid the scale-up of graphene-based technologies. Here, a one-pot reduction of graphene oxide using hydriodic acid and acetic acid provides large quantities of highly conductive reduced graphene oxide.

Graphene sheets used to build electronic devices have defects that limit performance. As a possible bottom-up route towards better devices, Diez-Perez and co-workers build large polyaromatic molecules with precisely defined structures which show good performance as field-effect transistors.