Vertically-aligned carbon nanowalls on nanoporous membranes

3^rd International Conference and Exhibition on Materials Science & Engineering

October 06-08, 2014 Hilton San Antonio Airport, USA

I Levchenko, J Fang, S Kumar, D Seo and K Ostrikov

Accepted Abstracts: Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

Carbon nanowalls and vertically-aligned graphene flakes are among the most promising two-dimensional materials potentially useful for many important applications such as optoelectronics, nanoelectronics, sensing, energy and signal conversion, and many other devices. We describe the fabrication of vertically-aligned carbon nanowalls of various morphologies on the nanoporous membranes treated with ions in solutions, as well as coated with thin metal layers and activated in the lowtemperature plasmas. We demonstrate that various combinations of the nanowall thicknesses and defect levels can be obtained, and the morphology of the nanowall pattern can be effectively controlled. Specifically, we report on a novel inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) based approach to grow the networks of vertically-aligned few-walled carbon nanowalls on nanoporous alumina (Al2O3) membranes. To effectively control the morphology, thickness and level of the structural defects of the carbon nanowall networks, various methods of post-treatment were used including noble-gas plasma and solution-based treatments with various ions (Co+, Pd+, Au+). Also, a continuous gold film was applied onto substrates to control the network morphology. The results of our experiments demonstrate a strong dependence of the carbon nanowalls network morphology on the posttreatment technique. The work could be of interest for various applications requiring fabrication of large graphene networks with controllable properties.

Biography :

I Levchenko is a Commonwealth Scientific-Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Senior Research Scientist and Team Leader of the Plasma Nanoscience group. His bibliography includes more than 100 scientific papers published in the reputed international journals. His scientific research interests include material science, plasma technologies including nanotechnology, nanofabrication, nano-structures and their applications.