Rice University scientists gain control of electronic, fluorescent
properties of coal-based graphene
(March 18, 2015) Graphene quantum dots made from coal,
introduced in 2013 by the Rice University lab of chemist James Tour, can be
engineered for specific semiconducting properties in either of two single-step
processes.
In a new study this week in the American Chemical Society
journal Applied Materials & Interfaces, Tour and colleagues demonstrated
fine control over the graphene oxide dots’ size-dependent band gap, the
property that makes them semiconductors. Quantum dots are semiconducting
materials that are small enough to exhibit quantum mechanical properties that
only appear at the nanoscale.