2012 Chemistry and Physics of Graphitic Carbon Materials Gordon Research Conference

该奖项主要支持研究生和博士后参加将于2012年6月17-22日在北卡罗来纳州戴维森学院举行的戈登石墨碳材料化学和物理研究会议。这次会议将汇集不同的研究人员，他们研究一组密切相关的碳基材料：石墨烯、碳纳米管、富勒烯和各种基于石墨的材料。在原子尺度上，这些都是令人惊叹的材料：石墨烯在一个六角形网格的顶点上有碳原子，这个网格类似于只有一个原子厚的鸡丝。碳纳米管可以被认为是这种铁丝网的微小卷曲。石墨烯和其他石墨烯材料的不同寻常的性质使这些系统变得重要，这既是出于实际原因--在微电子和可再生能源方面的潜在应用，也是因为它们带来的基本科学挑战。这次会议将强调进一步研究石墨碳材料的必要性，聚集物理、化学和工程学的科学家来应对这一领域的挑战。会议将集中在可扩展的合成、表征、新的物理和电子性质、结构-性质关系研究和新的应用。这次多学科会议将有一个非正式的研讨会环境，以鼓励科学家和工程师之间的互动和合作，这些科学家和工程师通常很少接触彼此。这将使从事这些材料面向应用方面工作的参与者意识到并利用这些材料所支持的奇异的基本性质。相反，对石墨材料的电子和材料特性感兴趣的科学家将了解到它们在实际开发中面临的挑战，并将受到激励，开发出越来越现实的模型。此外，会议将大力强调各级任职人数不足的群体成员的参与，包括在会议领导层、受邀发言者、讨论领导人以及高级和初级与会者的参与。最后，将特别努力将年轻的学生和博士后研究员纳入对石墨材料感兴趣的科学和工程界。

SUMMARYThis award supports participation of primarily graduate students and postdocs in the Gordon Research Conference on the Chemistry and Physics of Graphitic Carbon Materials to be held June 17-22, 2012 at Davidson College in North Carolina. The conference will bring together a diverse group of researchers studying a group of closely related carbon-based materials: graphene, carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and various materials based on graphite. On the atomic scale these are amazing materials: graphene has carbon atoms at the vertices of a hexagonal mesh that resembles chickenwire that is only a single atom thick. Carbon nanotubes can be thought of as tiny rolls of this chicken wire. The unusual properties of graphene and other graphitic materials make these systems important both for practical reasons -- potential applications in microelectronics and renewable energy and for the fundamental scientific challenges they present. The conference will highlight the need for further research on graphitic carbon materials, gathering scientists in physics, chemistry, and engineering to tackle the challenges in this field. The conference will focus on scalable synthesis, characterization, novel physical and electronic properties, structure-properties relationship studies, and new applications. This multidisciplinary conference will have an informal workshop environment to encourage interactions and collaborations among scientists and engineers who would normally have little contact with one another. This will allow participants working on application-oriented aspects of these materials to become aware of and exploit the exotic fundamental properties that these materials support. Conversely, scientists interested in the electronic and material properties of graphitic materials will learn about challenges faced in their practical exploitation, and will be motivated to develop increasingly realistic models of them. Moreover, the conference will strongly emphasize participation from members of underrepresented groups at all levels, including within the leadership of the conference, the invited speakers, discussion leaders, and senior and junior participants. Finally, particular effort will be made to integrate the young students and postdoctoral fellows into the science and engineering community interested in graphitic materials.