Periodic Reporting for period 4 - EspLORE (Extending the science perspectives of linear wires of carbon atoms from fundamental research to emerging materials)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-11-01 do 2022-04-30
The project wants to contribute to the foundations of the science and technology of carbon wire-based materials and their future implementation in advanced technological applications. Based on an experimental and theoretical approach, EspLORE sets up multidisciplinary research merging different competencies from fundamental science to engineering. The developed materials, able to provide complementary properties to nanotubes and graphene, could synergistically contribute to open new perspectives for an innovative ‘all-carbon’ approach to present and future challenges in many fields of science and technology.
The main objectives of EspLORE focus on both fundamental aspects in the science of carbon atomic wires and applied research targeting the development of new materials whose property control can be enabled by the exploitation of the wide property tunability of carbon wires.
Carbon wires up to 26 carbon atoms in length and with different terminations have been synthesized by the choice of the solvent. Structure-property relationship has been investigated outlining a structure-dependent charge transfer when carbon wires interact with metal nanoparticles. We outlined an electron donor or electron acceptor behavior of the wires depending on their structure.
By means of experiments at ELETTRA Synchrotron (Trieste, Italy) we unveiled a peculiar effect in the higher order Raman peaks and allowing us to retrieve the electronic and vibrational structure of size selected carbon wires. We studied the formation of wires by In situ Raman spectroscopy.
The structure of carbon wires has been studied in ultrahigh vacuum by scanning tunneling microscopy imaging at atomic resolution. For the first time, atomic scale imaging has been combined with vibrational spectroscopy (Raman) to investigate carbon wires and 2-dimensional materials including graphdiyne-like structures and transition metal dicalcolgenides.
A computational-modeling activity allowed us to investigate the properties of carbon wires and graphdiynes
We developed nanocomposites consisting in a polymer matrix embedding carbon wires. We showed a novel approach based on direct formation of carbon wires in a polymer solution that afterwards can solidify into a film. Carbon wires in such nanocomposites show prolonged stability in time, much higher than in liquid.
Regarding applications, thanks to a newly activated collaboration we demonstrated the possibility to produce a transistor using carbon wires as the active semiconducting material. This is the first demonstration of carbon wires in a transistor working at ambient conditions.
Results have been published in 27 papers on international journals and 1 book chapter, team members presented results with oral and poster presentations in several international conferences. Information, results and project achievements have been disseminated to scientific audience and general public through the website and socials (i.e. Linkedin).
From a fundamental science perspective the understanding of formation mechanisms opened by in situ Raman spectroscopy studies proposed by EspLORE is relevant for open questions regarding the stability of carbyne and the origin of carbon aggregates in the universe as unveiled by astrophysical studies. We also reported for the first time the use of resonance Raman to retrieve the electronic and vibrational structure of size selected wires.
In EspLORE we developed a novel approach based on the use of on-surface synthesis for the atomic scale investigation of carbon wires, showing this approach to be applicable to different systems including graphdiynes, novel 2D carbon materials. For graphdiynes, our theoretical study based on quantum calculations outlined all the possible structures with their properties showing that this is a emerging class of materials.
In many technological fields the availability of radically new materials could be a key step to develop new solutions in a revolutionary way. From electronic to energy conversion and storage devices new materials could overcome present limitations opening to new functionalities and enhanced performances. In this framework, the control of size and termination and the development of stable materials comprising carbon wires and the proof-of-concept demonstration of specific size-dependent functionalities is a key factor to future applications.