Taking Graphene from Research to Application
2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 55; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1930-0166
Autores Resumois a materials scientist's delight. A form of carbon just one atom thick, it has an array of physical properties that promise to revolutionize electronics and other technical fields. Since first reports of its discovery in 2004, work on graphene has largely stressed understanding fundamentals of two-dimensional material over pursuing applications for it. But MIT's Center for Devices and Systems, created last July, has a different idea: it will focus on developing usable technologies based on fundamental graphene research, carried out by MIT groups and corporate collaborators with financial support from industry and government, as well as MIT itself. The center provides an example of academic-industry-government collaboration in commercialization of entirely new technology. To maximize impact of world going on here at believe that it is very important to have strong collaborations with industry. On one hand, industry understands better than anybody else limitations of current technologies and needs for future innovations. At same time need to educate industry about new ideas being developed here at MIT, says Tomas Palacios, director of MIT center. It's a two-way street, adds David Kyser, senior director for strategic external research at Silicon Valley company Applied Materials, a corporate member of center. They're interested in how to commercialize their research and want to get their graduate students jobs in industry. want to partner with a university community as a source of innovation and trained experts in topics of interest to us when it comes to recruiting. From Adhesive Tape to a Nobel Prize Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, Russian emigres at Britain's University of Mancbester, won 2010 Nobel Prize in physics for isolating graphene from familiar graphite--a complex task that they achieved using simple adhesive tape. Since they reported their find in 2004, researchers have sought to develop a fundamental understanding of ultrathin material's chemical and physical properties. As that understanding has emerged, it has opened way to potential applications. In some of them, graphene promises to improve on performance or capabilities of presently used materials, for instance, in touch screens and microprocessors. But graphene also holds promise of facilitating entirely new products; Palacios foresees its use in high-frequency electronics that could, for example, lead to coffee cups that display news headlines, windows that reveal outside temperature, and clothing that acts as an antenna to extend range of mobile phones. Some companies have already announced products based on graphene. Samsung plans to incorporate it in flexible touch screens, and Spanish firm Graphenea Nanomaterials is developing production methods for graphene layers. But plenty of research remains to be done to enable other applications. The MIT center offers companies opportunity to participate in that research enterprise in its earliest stages. We are looking at potential for elements other than silicon to enhance potential applications and opportunities for integration, explains Luigi Occhipinti, product director for flexible and disposable electronics at Massachusetts company STMicroelectronics. Graphene is one of emerging substances that interests us. Similarly, Applied Materials, which supplies semiconductor and related fields with tools for depositing and etching thin films, recognizes graphene's promise as, in Kyser's words, the ultimate thin film. Explaining his company's decision to join MIT center, Kyser says that we are trying to keep aware of progress being made in research and possible applications for future tools to enable deposition and processing. A Model for Center MIT has long encouraged collaborations with industry. …
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