• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Wednesday, October 1, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Graphene substrate improves the conductivity of carbon nanotube network

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
October 9, 2019
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Scientists at Aalto University, Finland, and the University of Vienna, Austria, have combined graphene and single-walled carbon nanotubes into a transparent hybrid material with conductivity higher than either component exhibits separately

IMAGE

Credit: Kimmo Mustonen / Jani Kotakoski, University of Vienna

Transparent conductive films (TCFs) have many applications in touch screens, organic light emitting diodes and solar cells. These applications need materials that are strong, energy efficient and stable, which is why companies and researchers are interested in carbon-based materials. This applies especially to networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes, which are expected to replace the metal-oxide films that are currently used.

Graphene is the thinnest imaginable material, it is just one atomic layer of carbon atoms. Rolling this into a cylinder makes a carbon nanotube, which is better suited to carrying electricity in real-world applications. In an article published in ACS Nano, scientists at Aalto University and the University of Vienna introduce a hybrid material made by combining carbon nanotubes and graphene, which improves the conductivity of the film beyond what is possible when using each of these component structures separately.

Professor Kauppinen’s group at Aalto has years of experience in making carbon nanotubes for TCFs. This new work applies the techniques they have developed to place densely-packed and clean random nanotube networks on graphene. “This is another application of the technologies we have developed over the past decades. Put simply, this work is about how the two materials are put together without solvents,” Kauppinen explains.

In the study, the scientists used a process called thermophoresis to deposit nanotubes on prefabricated graphene electrodes. The hybrid films’ conductivities were roughly twice as high as predicted.

The experiments conducted by the team at the University of Vienna, led by Jani Kotakoski, showed that the strong electrical interactions of graphene enhanced the flow of electrons between the nanotubes by encouraging charge-tunneling. The team used a scanning transmission electron microscope to look at the material on the scale of individual atoms, and saw that the van der Waals interaction between the graphene and nanotubes was strong enough to collapse the circular nanotube bundles into flat ribbons.

The lead scientist from the Vienna group, Kimmo Mustonen, explains: “This is really an ingenious approach. The charge transport in nanomaterials is very sensitive to any external factors. What you really want is to avoid unnecessary processing steps if your goal is to make the ideal conductive film.” Mustonen adds, “It actually is quite remarkable. We of course knew that the interaction is quite strong. For instance, think of graphite; it is just a large number of graphene layers bound together by the same mechanism. Yet we did not expect that it has such a strong impact on conductivity.”

The results provide opportunities to improve the conductivity of similar hybrid nanomaterials. The article was published in “ACS Nano” in September 2019.

###

Media Contact
Esko Kauppinen
[email protected]
358-405-098-064

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b05049

Tags: Chemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesElectrical Engineering/ElectronicsIndustrial Engineering/ChemistryMaterialsNanotechnology/MicromachinesResearch/DevelopmentSuperconductors/SemiconductorsTechnology/Engineering/Computer Science
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Atom-photon entanglement breakthrough opens new horizons for future quantum networks

Atom-photon entanglement breakthrough opens new horizons for future quantum networks

September 30, 2025
Charting the Cosmos Made Simpler

Charting the Cosmos Made Simpler

September 30, 2025

Scientists Discover Room-Temperature Method to Enhance Light-Harvesting and Emission Devices

September 30, 2025

Decoding Solute Selectivity: How Aquaporin 10.2 Filters Urea and Boric Acid

September 30, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    88 shares
    Share 35 Tweet 22
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    74 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • How Donor Human Milk Storage Impacts Gut Health in Preemies

    61 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Scientists Discover and Synthesize Active Compound in Magic Mushrooms Again

    57 shares
    Share 23 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Cost-Effectiveness of Congenital Chagas Screening Explored

Amino Acid Gene Variants Linked to Thyroid Cancer Risk

Combating Ovarian Cancer Resistance: Astragalus and Cisplatin Unite

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 59 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.