We all know about the wonder material graphene, which is an allotrope of carbon, arranged in a honeycomb structure with 2-dimensional properties. It is also a component of other allotropes such as graphite, charcoal, nanotubes and fullerenes.
Its uses are wide and varied due to its amazing properties. Researchers have found applications for graphene in areas such as display screens in mobile devices, batteries, components with higher strength to weight ratios such as wind turbine blades or aircraft components. The number of uses of graphene does not seem to be slowing, if anything new and more stretching applications are being witnessed.
Scientists in Korea [Thiyagarajan et al. Carbon 73, (2014), 25-33] have developed a new more efficient form of graphene that might find renewed interest in the commercial sector developing photodetectors for various applications. Until now this has been an area where application has been hindered due to poor conducting properties.
From Jeju National University the researchers have found a novel method to improve graphene's light absorbing capabilities, single layer graphene only absorbs 2.3% of incident light, the scientists use a few layers of graphene (FLG) in which they artificially induce defects in the FLG from atmospheric plasma irradiation.
This is one time the scientists were pleased to witness defects, as the atmospheric plasma irradiated FLG shows improved photoconducting ability which the scientists tested both with visible and ultraviolet light illumination. A photoconductive gain of 1.1 was achieved using 535nm light illumination. The results will rekindle interest in graphene applications in the field of opto-electronic devices.
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