GRANARIP · Structure-property characteristics of graphene materials with controlled nanoscale rippling

The development of novel functional nanodevices based on graphene is of great interest for many technological applications. Transferring the bunch of exceptional properties of this highly promising two dimensional carbon material (light, strong, flexible, semi-metal, etc.) is currently one of the hot topics in material science.The objective of this project is the realisation of functional graphene materials by controlling their rippling at nanoscale. A comparative study will be performed to investigate the microscopic structure and charge transport properties of graphene layers transferred onto different nanostructured surfaces. These surfaces will be prepared by ion beam irradiation techniques and by dispersing nanoparticles on appropriate substrates. Transport measurements will be performed in the view of potential gas sensing applications. We expect to identify correlations between the corrugation of graphene layers and their gas sensing property. We aim also to characterize individual nanocrystals located under the graphene sheets. Focus lies on measuring the electronic band gap of semiconducting nanocrystals by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS), since these techniques are sensitive to the surface states below the one-atom-thick graphene. A more comprehensive study of graphene/nanocrystal heterostructures is envisaged by STM/STS, because not only geometric effects but also electronic effects (spatially dependent doping) can influence the gas sensing properties. The project thus will contribute to enhance the knowledge on the properties of strained graphene/nanoparticle hybrid systems and additionally, will result in novel graphene based materials with own proper characteristics and potential interest to technological applications.This project will serve as a platform for timely and multidisciplinary research in the field of nanoscience and will help the long term integration of the research fellow by putting him into a leading position.