No abstract

This review on graphene, a one atom thick, two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms, starts with a general description of the graphene electronic structure as well as a basic experimental toolkit for identifying and handling this material. Owing to the versatility of graphene properties and projected applications, several production techniques are summarized, ranging from the mechanical exfoliation of high quality graphene to the direct growth on carbides or metal substrates and from the chemical routes using graphene oxide to the newly developed approach at the molecular level. The most promising and appealing properties of graphene are summarized from an exponentially growing literature, with a particular attention to matching production methods to characteristics and to applications. In particular, we report on the high carrier mobility value in suspended and annealed samples for electronic devices, on the thickness-dependent optical transparency and, in the mechanical section, on the high robustness and full integration of graphene in sensing device applications. Finally, we emphasize on the high potential of graphene not only as a post-silicon materials for CMOS device application but more ambitiously as a platform for post-CMOS molecular architecture in electronic information processing.Comment: Review article: 21 pages, 243 references, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Carbon, 201

We estimate the stiffness of single-walled carbon nanotubes by observing their freestanding roomtemperature vibrations in a transmission electron microscope. The nanotube dimensions and vibration amplitude are measured from electron micrographs, and it is assumed that the vibration modes are driven stochastically and are those of a clamped cantilever. Micrographs of 27 nanotubes in the diameter range 1.0-1.5 nm were measured to yield an average Young's modulus of ͗Y ͘ϭ1.25 TPa. This value is consistent with previous measurements for multiwalled nanotubes, and is higher than the currently accepted value of the in-plane modulus of graphite. ͓S0163-1829͑98͒00144-1͔