Infrared vibrational nano-spectroscopy based on scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) provides intrinsic chemical specificity with nanometer spatial resolution. Here we use incoherent infrared radiation from a 1400 K thermal blackbody emitter for broadband infrared (IR) nano-spectroscopy. With optimized interferometric heterodyne signal amplification we achieve few-monolaye...

Solids at incommensurate contact display low-friction, ’superlubric’, sliding. For graphene flakes on a graphite surface, superlubric sliding is only temporary due to rotation of the flakes from incommensurate to commensurate contact with the substrate. We examine this rotational channel of friction in a prototype geometry of mesoand macroscopic solid lubrication. By molecular dynamics simulati...

In the quest of developing high performance electronic and optical devices and more cost effective fabrication processes of monoclinic β-Ga2O3, new growth techniques and fundamental electronic and optical properties of defects have to be explored. By heating of dissolved metallic Ga in HCl in a NH3 and N2 atmosphere, nano-flake films of monoclinic β-phase Ga2O3 were grown as confirmed by XRD. F...

We investigate the performance of graphene oxide (GO) in improving mechanical properties of cement composites. A polycarboxylate superplasticizer was used to improve the dispersion of GO flakes in the cement. The mechanical strength of graphene-cement nanocomposites containing 0.1-2 wt% GO and 0.5 wt% superplasticizer was measured and compared with that of cement prepared without GO. We found t...

Abstract Graphene nano-flakes (GNFs) are predicted to host spin-polarized metallic edge states, which envisioned for exploration of spintronics at the nanometer scale. To date, experimental realization GNFs is only in its infancy because limitation precise cutting or synthesizing methods Here, we use low temperature scanning tunneling microscope manipulate coronene molecules on a Cu(111) surfac...

Effect of Nanofiller Shape on Effective Thermal Conductivity of Fluoropolymer Composites Report Title Filler particle size and shape influence interconnectivity within a polymer matrix and play a significant role in controlling the effective thermal conductivity of a composite. This study examines the effect of nanofiller particle shape in a polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) matrix on thermal energ...

In the present study, we have examined the interaction between a suspension of graphene in dimethylformamide and an aqueous solution of hydrofluoric acid, which was found to result in partial fluorination of suspension flakes. A considerable decrease in the thickness and lateral size of the graphene flakes (up to 1-5 monolayers in thickness and 100-300 nm in diameter) with increasing duration o...