Laboratory of transparent, conducting, photo-active and carbon-based thin films

从1996年诺贝尔化学奖表彰富勒烯的合成，到2010年诺贝尔物理学奖表彰石墨烯的发现，碳基材料已经发展成为材料科学中最热门的领域之一。 Fanchini的透明，导电，光活性和碳基薄膜实验室来自PI获得的Tier 2 CRC，与石墨烯的主流研究相呼应，专门研究石墨烯或其他碳基和有机纳米材料的血小板PATCHWORKS形成的碳基薄膜的合成，表征和利用，就像拼图一样排列。对这些薄膜的浓厚兴趣源于它们易于通过溶液处理制备（这是唯一适合于在相对较小的群体中开始研究HQP学员的方法）以及它们有趣的物理化学性质。虽然许多这样的属性让人想起单个石墨烯层，但需要一些与其纳米复合性质相关的其他概念来设计拼凑的石墨烯膜。我们用于柔性太阳能电池和LED的透明电极一直在利用我们对这些薄膜在纳米尺度上的电光特性的深入了解所带来的独特优势。我们还一直在探索基于其极端导热性的设备，因为我们开发了第二代溶液处理的石墨烯薄膜，而不是第一代氧化石墨烯基薄膜，其缺陷太多，无法实现热应用。在开发了第一代和第二代石墨烯薄膜之后，Fanchini的实验室现在提出了第三代石墨烯薄膜的新努力，其中纳米颗粒和纳米孔的应用选择性地改变了每个血小板的特性。这些努力将产生新的设备，包括第一个节能和可逆的石墨烯水过滤器原型。 当与纳米光电子仪器开发并行进行时，“拼凑”石墨烯薄膜的纳米尺度调查是独特的促进。源于Fanchini最近开发的世界上第一个三维扫描近场光学技术，使纳米等离子体太阳能电池的教育设计，这里提出了两个新的努力：1）用于成像太阳能电池中的光激发的纳米光学技术，无论是基于石墨烯的还是不基于石墨烯的，以及2）用于成像界面热阻率的第一次纳米热光学技术，从而在电子器件中实现基于石墨烯的有效热管理。 这些为期5年的努力有助于Fanchini实验室的长期计划，即使用碳基纳米材料和纳米光电子技术来满足加拿大对可持续能源的需求，并在这一领域培养急需的下一代HQP。

From the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, recognizing the synthesis of fullerene, to the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics, awarded to the discovery of graphene, carbon-based materials have evolved into one of the hottest area in materials science. Differently from mainstream research in graphene, Fanchini’s Laboratory of transparent, conducting, photo-active and carbon-based thin films, stemming from the Tier 2 CRC awarded to the PI, specializes in the synthesis, characterization and utilization of carbon-based thin films formed by PATCHWORKS of platelets of graphene or other carbon-based and organic nanomaterials, arranged like in jigsaw puzzles. Strong interest on these films stems from their ease of preparation by solution processing (which is uniquely suited for initiating to research HQP trainees in relatively small groups) and from their intriguing physico-chemical properties. Although many of such properties are reminiscent of individual graphene layers, a number of other concepts related to their NANOCOMPOSITE nature is required to design patchwork graphene films. Our transparent electrodes for flexible solar cells and LEDs have been taking unique advantages from our deeper understanding of the electro-optical properties of these films at the nanoscale. We also have been exploring devices based on their extreme thermal conductivity since our development of solution-processed graphene thin films of 2nd generation, as opposed to 1st generation graphene oxide-based films that were too rich in defects to enable thermal applications. After being instrumental in developing both 1st and 2nd generation of graphene thin films, Fanchini’s Lab is now proposing new endeavors toward graphene-based thin films of 3rd generation, in which the application of nanoparticles and nanopores selectively modify the properties of each individual platelet. Such efforts will result in new devices, including the first prototype of energy-efficient and reversible graphene-based water filter. Nanoscale investigation of "patchwork" graphene thin films is uniquely facilitated when conducted in parallel with nano-optoelectronics instrument development. Stemming from Fanchini’s recent development of the world-first three-dimensional scanning near-field optical technique, enabling educated design of nanoplasmonic solar cells, two new endeavors are here proposed: 1) nano-optical techniques for imaging photoexcitation in solar cells, either graphene-based or not, and 2) the first ever nano-thermo-optical techniques for imaging interfacial thermal resistivity, enabling graphene-based efficient thermal management in electronic devices. These 5-year endeavors are instrumental to Fanchini’s Lab longer term plans to use carbon-based nanomaterials and nano-optoelectronics to address Canada’s demand for sustainable energy and to train the much needed, next generation of HQP in this area.