Graphene nanoribbons are suspended by the tip of the microscope to see bright light.
For the first time, Italian and French research teams experimentally observed the intense emission of seven-atom-wide graphene nanoribbons with intensity comparable to that made with carbon nanotubes and the color can be changed by adjusting the voltage. Greatly promote the development of graphene light source. Relevant results published in the latest issue of "N Express News" magazine.
The new study, co-located by the CNR Institute of Nanoscience and the research team at the University of Strasbourg, France, explains that, in general, the basic system of molecular-scale devices is very interesting, but rather unstable, However, this study demonstrates that a single graphene nanoribbon can be used as a strong, stable and controllable light source, which is a decisive step in the application of nanomaterials to the real world of optoelectronics.
Although the excellent electronic properties of graphene have been widely studied, scientists have little understanding of its optical properties.One of the disadvantages of using graphene as a light-emitting device is that the graphene sheet does not have an optical band gap, but recent studies show that graphene After being cut into a few atomic-wide ribbons, a considerable optical bandgap is obtained, giving rise to the possibility of light emission.
The experimental results indicate that graphene nanoribbons have great potential to be developed.Experiments show that a single graphene nanoribbon exhibits strong optical emission up to 10 million photons per second with a intensity that is 100 times higher than the emission of single molecule optoelectronic devices , Comparable to light-emitting devices made of carbon nanotubes.
In addition, the researchers also found that the change of electrical energy changes with the voltage, which provides the possibility of adjusting the color of light.These observations provide a good foundation for further exploring the potential mechanism of graphene nanoribbons luminescence.
In the future, researchers will also explore the effect of the width of the graphene nanoribbons on luminescence color because it is expected that the bandgap size will be controlled by this width modulation.Of course, the most important concern is how to integrate graphene nanoribbon devices into larger In the circuit.
