CAREER: Fabricating Free-Standing Three-Dimensional Graphene Nanostructures through Functionalization, Folding, and Self-Assembly

这项教师早期职业发展（Career）资助将为独立的、三维的、功能化的石墨烯结构的制造建立一种方法。近年来，三维石墨烯结构因其不同于二维（2D）石墨烯纳米片的独特性质和行为而备受关注。三维石墨烯结构可以应用于光学、电子、光电子和生物医学器件，这是二维石墨烯结构无法实现的。石墨烯基材料的一个有用的特点是其物理和化学性质的可调性通过功能化。目前，3D石墨烯基材料的功能化还不存在，因为传统的光刻技术，如电子束光刻、光刻和纳米压印光刻都是2D方法，只能在平面基板上进行图像化和功能化。该研究计划旨在开发纳米制造工艺，并证明3D多面体石墨烯结构可以在3D结构的每个表面上单独功能化石墨烯纳米片来实现。所提出的工作的影响是发现可用于开发下一代3D纳米电子学，3D多通道滤波装置和有益于人类健康的纳米医学传感器的知识。该奖项的目标是展示在二维石墨烯纳米片中未观察到的3D石墨烯材料的独特特性。异质三维功能化将通过在三维结构上掺杂和表面图图化来实现，这将改变三维纳米结构的物理和化学性质，从而导致新一代的三维器件。具体的研究兴趣和职业目标包括以下内容：(a)开发一种自组装和折叠工艺，将2D结构转化为3D器件，克服传统光刻工艺的局限性，并允许创建独立的3D石墨烯（石墨烯和氧化石墨烯）多面体和纳米管阵列；(b)在三维石墨烯结构上实现异质功能化，每个石墨烯基膜定义三维多面体结构的每个面，并功能化为特定的功能；(c)将自组装工艺应用于3D石墨烯传感器和设备的开发。这项工作将有助于解决使用二维材料的主要问题，并为下一代纳米器件的开发带来重大进展。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant will build a methodology for the fabrication of free-standing, three-dimensional (3D), functionalized, graphene structures. 3D graphene structures have been of great interest in the last few years because of their unique properties and behaviors, which are different from two-dimensional (2D) graphene nanosheets. 3D graphene structures can lead to applications in optics, electronics, optoelectronics, and biomedical devices, which cannot be realized with 2D graphene structures. One of the useful characteristics of graphene-based materials is tunability of their physical and chemical properties through functionalization. Currently, functionalization of 3D graphene-based materials does not exist, because conventional lithographic techniques such as electron beam lithography, photolithography, and nanoimprint lithography are 2D methods which allow patterning and functionalizing only on planar substrates. This research plan seeks to develop nanomanufacturing processes and demonstrate that 3D polyhedral graphene structures can be realized with individually functionalized graphene nanosheets on each face of the 3D structures. The impact of the proposed work is the discovery of knowledge that can be harnessed in developing next-generation 3D nanoelectronics, 3D multi-channel filtering devices, and nanomedical sensors beneficial to human health. The goal of this award is to demonstrate the unique properties of 3D graphene materials not observed in 2D graphene nanosheets. The heterogeneous 3D functionalization will be accomplished through doping and surface patterning on the 3D structures, which will alter the physical and chemical properties of the 3D nanostructures, leading to a new generation of 3D devices. The specific research interests and CAREER objectives encompass the following: (a) develop a self-assembly and folding processes to transform 2D structures into 3D devices, overcoming the limitations of the conventional lithographic processes and allowing for the creation of free-standing 3D graphene-based (graphene and graphene oxide) polyhedral and nanotube arrays; (b) realize heterogeneous functionalization on the 3D graphene structures, with each graphene-based membrane defining each face of the 3D polyhedron structure and functionalized for specific functionalities; (c) apply the self-assembly process in the development of 3D graphene-based sensors and devices. This work will contribute to solving major problems with using 2D materials and bring significant advances in the development of next-generation nano-enabled devices.