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

这项学院早期职业发展(Career)补助金将研究一种新的收缩纳米制造工艺，用于二维纳米材料(如石墨烯)的纳米级图案制作。收缩纳米制造是指通过热诱导收缩过程来制造各种形状和尺寸的微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，有可能在不需要昂贵的制造(如纳米光刻)的情况下为下一代电子产品生成图案或波纹结构。到目前为止，收缩纳米制造仅限于用于非电子应用的非半导体材料。该奖项将支持基础研究，为开发功能二维纳米材料的收缩纳米制造提供知识基础。新工艺将实现对图案、地形和特性的精确控制，这些特性对可穿戴电子产品、物联网、医疗保健和生物医疗设备等应用具有吸引力。这项研究的结果将广泛惠及美国制造业的竞争力、整体经济和公共福利。退伍军人学生参与开发我们的多学科方法来缩小纳米制造，这将扩大代表不足的群体在包括制造、电子和材料科学在内的多个学科的研究和工程教育中的参与。原子薄的二维(2D)纳米材料，如石墨烯、MoS2和TMDs，在大的压缩变形应力下可以弹性起皱或屈曲，同时保持其新颖的电学性能。2D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气和光学性能开辟了新的机会。然而，由于缺乏可制造的方法和目前制造波纹结构的知识差距，使得利用应变和形貌来成形2D纳米材料成为可能。这项研究将探索波纹2D材料超晶格结构收缩纳米制造的基本原理，以填补这一知识空白。收缩纳米制造过程利用2D原子层材料的弹性屈曲，当通过收缩热塑性衬底施加大的压缩应变时。研究小组将以石墨烯作为二维纳米材料的模型，研究波纹超晶格结构的尺寸缩放，研究波纹结构的应变和地形对电学和光学性能的影响，开发一种用于精确工程图案和形貌的卷到卷收缩纳米制造工艺，并探索在应变传感器和可调光吸收材料中的应用。

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.