The latest research from a Kansas State University chemical
engineer may help improve humidity and pressure sensors, particularly those
used in outer space.
Vikas Berry, William H. Honstead professor of chemical
engineering, and his research team are using graphene quantum dots to improve
sensing devices in a twofold project. The first part involves producing the
graphene quantum dots, which are ultrasmall pieces of graphene. Graphene is a
single-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms and has superior electrical, mechanical
and optical properties. The second part of the project involves incorporating
these quantum dots into electron-tunneling based sensing devices.