CAREER: Corrugated Graphene Superlattice Structures by Strain-induced Shrink Nanomanufacturing

该学院早期职业发展（Career）基金将研究一种新型的收缩纳米制造工艺，用于二维纳米材料（如石墨烯）的纳米尺度图案。收缩纳米制造是指通过热诱导收缩过程创造各种形状和尺寸的小型化图案和形貌的过程。这种方法类似于日常的收缩包装和热收缩管，有可能为下一代电子产品产生图案或波纹结构，而不需要昂贵的制造，如纳米光刻。迄今为止，收缩纳米制造仅限于非电子应用的非半导体材料。该奖项将支持基础研究，为功能二维纳米材料的收缩纳米制造的发展提供知识基础。新工艺将能够精确控制图案、地形和特性，这对可穿戴电子产品、物联网、医疗保健和生物医学设备等应用具有吸引力。这项研究的结果将广泛有利于美国的制造业竞争力，整体经济和公共福利。学生退伍军人参与开发我们的多学科方法来缩小纳米制造，将扩大代表性不足的群体参与研究和工程教育的多学科，包括制造，电子和材料科学。原子薄的二维（2D）纳米材料，如石墨烯、MoS2和tmd，可以在大的压缩变形应力下弹性起皱或屈曲，同时保持其新颖的电学性能。二维纳米材料的这种独特行为为利用弹性应变和形貌控制来设计电学和光学特性提供了新的机会。然而，缺乏可制造的方法和目前制造波纹结构的知识差距阻碍了使用应变和地形来塑造二维纳米材料。本研究将探讨波纹二维材料超晶格结构的收缩纳米制造的基本原理，以填补这一知识空白。收缩纳米制造工艺利用了在热塑性衬底上施加较大压缩应变时二维原子层材料的弹性屈曲。研究团队将以石墨烯为模型二维纳米材料，研究波纹超晶格结构的尺寸缩放，研究波纹结构的应变和形貌对电学和光学性能的影响，开发一种卷对卷的收缩纳米制造工艺，以实现精确的工程模式和形貌，并探索在应变传感器和可调谐光学吸收材料中的应用。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant will study a novel shrink nanomanufacturing process for nano-scale patterning of two-dimensional nanomaterials such as graphene. Shrink nanomanufacturing refers to the process of creating miniaturized patterns and topographies of various shapes and dimensions by a thermally-induced shrinking process. This approach, which is analogous to everyday shrink-wrapping and heat-shrink tubing, has the potential to generate patterns or corrugated structures for next generation electronics without the need for costly fabrication, such as nanolithography. To date, shrink nanomanufacturing has been limited to non-semiconducting materials for non-electronic applications. This award will support fundamental research to provide the knowledge base for the development of shrink nanomanufacturing for functional two-dimensional nanomaterials. The new process will enable precise control of patterns, topographies and properties which are attractive for applications such as wearable electronics, internet-of-things, healthcare and biomedical devices. The results of this research will broadly benefit U.S. manufacturing competiveness, the overall economy and public welfare. The involvement of student veterans in developing our multi-disciplinary approach to shrink nanomanufacturing will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in research and engineering education across multiple disciplines including manufacturing, electronics, and materials science. Atomically-thin two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials such as graphene, MoS2 and TMDs, can be elastically wrinkled or buckled under large compressive deformation stresses whilst preserving their novel electrical properties. This unique behavior of 2D nanomaterials opens up novel opportunities to use elastic strain and topography control to engineer electrical and optical properties. However, lack of manufacturable approaches and a current knowledge gap of fabricating corrugated structures have precluded the use of strain and topography for shaping the 2D nanomaterials. This research will investigate the fundamentals of shrink nanomanufacturing of corrugated 2D material superlattice structures to fill this knowledge gap. The process of shrink nanomanufacturing utilizes elastic buckling of 2D atomic layer materials when a large compressive strain is applied by shrinking a thermoplastic substrate. Using graphene as the model 2D nanomaterial, the research team will investigate the size-scaling of corrugated superlattice structures, study how the strain and topography of corrugated structures impact the electrical and optical properties, develop a roll-to-roll process of shrink nanomanufacturing for precisely engineered patterns and topographies, and explore applications in strain sensors and tunable optical absorption materials.