Carbon materials

On the left, an atomic-force microscopy image shows a nanoporous graphene membrane after a burst test at 100 bars. The image shows that failed micromembranes (the dark black areas) are aligned with wrinkles in the graphene. On the right, two zoomed-in scanning electron microscopy images of graphene membranes show the before (top) and after of a burst test at pressure difference of 30 bars. The i...

Graphene holds up under high pressure

Used in filtration membranes, ultrathin material could help make desalination more productive.

April 24, 2017

(Left to right): Postdoc Kyusang Lee, Professor Jeehwan Kim (sitting), and graduate students Samuel Cruz and Yunjo Kim.

Not stuck on silicon

Engineers use graphene as a “copy machine” to produce cheaper semiconductor wafers.

April 19, 2017

Researchers at MIT have found a way to make graphene with fewer wrinkles, and to iron out the wrinkles that do appear. They found each wafer exhibited uniform performance, meaning that electrons flowed freely across each wafer, at similar speeds, even across previously wrinkled regions.

Researchers “iron out” graphene’s wrinkles

New technique produces highly conductive graphene wafers.

April 3, 2017

MIT aerospace researchers have demonstrated that some randomness in the arrangement of carbon atoms makes materials that are lighter and stronger, shown at lower right in illustration, compared to a more densely packed and tightly ordered structure, shown lower left. They formed a type of disordered graphite-like carbon material that is often called glassy carbon by “baking” a phenol-formadehy...

Disorder can be good

Researchers discover that chaos makes carbon materials lighter and stronger.

March 17, 2017

Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, a pioneer in the electronic properties of materials, dies at 86

“Queen of carbon science” and recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom and National Medal of Science led US scientific community, promoted women in STEM.

February 21, 2017

3-D-printed gyroid models such as this one were used to test the strength and mechanical properties of a new lightweight material.

Researchers design one of the strongest, lightest materials known

Porous, 3-D forms of graphene developed at MIT can be 10 times as strong as steel but much lighter.

January 6, 2017

MIT researchers have fabricated a stamp made from forests of carbon nanotubes that is able to print electronic inks onto rigid and flexible surfaces.

Printable electronics

New stamping technique creates functional features at nanoscale dimensions.

December 7, 2016

A team at MIT has found an unexpected discovery about water: Inside the tiniest of spaces — in carbon nanotubes whose inner dimensions are not much bigger than a few water molecules — water can freeze solid even at high temperatures that would normally set it boiling. The finding might lead to new applications such as ice-filled wires.

Inside tiny tubes, water turns solid when it should be boiling

MIT researchers discover astonishing behavior of water confined in carbon nanotubes.

November 28, 2016

Images produced from computer simulations show the response of a graphene surface as a silicon tip slides over it. Relative forces of atomic friction on the surface are shown by colors: Red points are “pushing” sites that help propel the tip along the surface, while blue points are “pinning” sites of greater friction that inhibit the tip’s motion.

The science of friction on graphene

Sliding on flexible graphene surfaces has been uncharted territory until now.

November 23, 2016

MIT aerospace engineers have found a way to bond composite layers, producing a material that is substantially stronger and more resistant to damage than other advanced composites. The improvement may lead to stronger, lighter airplane parts.

Carbon nanotube “stitches” strengthen composites

Method to reinforce these materials could help make airplane frames lighter, more damage-resistant.

August 2, 2016

The process of making a stack of parallel sheets of graphene starts with a chemical vapor deposition process (I) to make a graphene sheet with a polymer coating; these layers are then stacked (II), folded and cut (III) and stacked again and pressed, multiplying the number of layers. The team used a related method the team to produce scroll-shaped fibers.

Borrowing from pastry chefs, engineers create nanolayered composites

Method to stack hundreds of nanoscale layers could open new vistas in materials science.

July 21, 2016

Emission spectra are a widely used method for identifying chemical compounds; the bright lines reveal the different frequencies of light that can be emitted by an atom. Here, a normal emission spectrum for an atom in a high-energy state (top) is compared to the emission from the same atom placed just a few nanometers (billionths of a meter) away from graphene that has been doped with charge carrie...

Study opens new realms of light-matter interaction

Some “forbidden” light emissions are in fact possible, could enable new sensors and light-emitting devices.

July 14, 2016

MIT researchers have developed low-cost chemical sensors, made from chemically altered carbon nanotubes, that enable a smartphone or other wireless devices to detect trace amounts of toxic gases.

Wireless, wearable toxic-gas detector

Inexpensive sensors could be worn by soldiers to detect hazardous chemical agents.

June 30, 2016

This illustration depicts the process of light emission from a sheet of graphene, which is represented as the blue lattice on the top surface of a carrier material. The light-colored arrow moving upwards at the center depicts a fast-moving electron. Because the electron is moving faster than light itself, it generates a shock wave, which spews out plasmons, shown as red squiggly lines, in two dire...

Researchers discover new way to turn electricity into light, using graphene

By slowing down light to a speed slower than flowing electrons, researchers create a kind of optical “sonic boom.”

June 13, 2016

An electron microscopy image shows many examples of nanoscrolls. The insert zooms in on a single nanoscroll and reveals its conical nature.

For stronger, lighter, cheaper materials, scroll up

Researchers create perfect nanoscrolls from graphene’s imperfect form.

April 12, 2016

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