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

从1996年的诺贝尔化学奖，表彰富勒烯的合成，到2010年的诺贝尔物理学奖，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。*与石墨烯的主流研究不同，范奇尼的透明、导电、光活性和碳基薄膜实验室源于授予PI的Tier 2 CRC，专门研究由石墨烯或其他碳基和有机纳米材料的小片拼凑而成的碳基薄膜的合成、表征和利用，就像拼图游戏一样排列。对这些薄膜的浓厚兴趣源于它们易于通过溶液处理进行制备(这非常适合在相对较小的小组中启动对HQP学员的研究)，以及它们有趣的物理化学性质。尽管许多这样的性质让人联想到单独的石墨烯层，但设计拼接的石墨烯薄膜需要一些与其纳米复合性质相关的其他概念。我们用于柔性太阳能电池和LED的透明电极一直在发挥独特的优势，因为我们在纳米尺度上更深入地了解了这些薄膜的电光特性。自我们开发第二代溶液处理石墨烯薄膜以来，我们也一直在探索基于其极高热导率的器件，而不是第一代基于氧化石墨烯的薄膜，这些薄膜缺陷太多，无法实现热应用。在帮助开发了第一代和第二代石墨烯薄膜之后，范奇尼的实验室现在正在提出第三代基于石墨烯的薄膜的新努力，在这种薄膜中，纳米颗粒和纳米孔的应用选择性地改变了每个石墨烯的性质。这些努力将导致新的设备，包括第一个节能和可逆的石墨烯滤水器原型。*当与纳米光电子仪器开发并行进行时，对“拼凑”石墨烯薄膜的纳米尺度研究是唯一便利的。由于Fanchini最近开发了世界第一的三维扫描近场光学技术，使纳米等离子体太阳能电池能够进行有教育的设计，这里提出了两项新的努力：1)用于成像太阳能电池光激发的纳米光学技术，无论是基于石墨烯的还是非基于石墨烯的；2)有史以来第一种用于成像界面热阻的纳米热光技术，使基于石墨烯的高效热管理能够在电子设备中实现。*这些5年的努力对Fanchini实验室的长期计划至关重要，该计划旨在使用碳基纳米材料和纳米光电子学来满足加拿大对可持续能源的迫切需求，并培训急需的人员。这一领域的下一代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. ********