Nanoenvelopes: Wrapping a Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube with Graphene using an Atomic Force Microscope

Engineering the morphology and structure of low‐dimensional carbon nanomaterials is important to study their mechanical and electrical properties and even superconductivity. Herein, first the techniques that are used to engineer carbon nanotubes, including manipulation, morphology modification, and fabrication of complex nanostructures, are reviewed. This is followed by a summary of the methods applied to fabricate graphene nanostructures, such as heterostructures and nanoenvelopes of graphene. Lastly, an insight into the applications of low‐dimensional‐carbon‐based electronics is given, such as carbon nanotube (CNT) transistors, graphene‐based nanoenvelopes, and graphene‐contacted CNT field‐effect transistors (FETs), which are promising components in future electronics.     

Light Control of Charge Transfer and Excitonic Transitions in a Carbon Nanotube/Porphyrin Hybrid

Carbon nanotube–chromophore hybrids are promising building blocks in order to obtain a controlled electro‐optical transduction effect at the single nano‐object level. In this work, a strong spectral selectivity of the electronic and the phononic response of a chromophore‐coated single nanotube transistor is observed for which standard photogating cannot account. This paper investigates how light irradiation strongly modifies the coupling between molecules and nanotube within the hybrid by means of combined Raman diffusion and electron transport measurements. Moreover, a nonconventional Raman enhancement effect is observed when light irradiation is on the absorption range of the grafted molecule. Finally, this paper shows how the dynamics of single electron tunneling in the device at low temperature is strongly modified by molecular photoexcitation. Both effects will be discussed in terms of photoinduced excitons coupled to electronic levels.     

Reversible Charge Transfer with Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes Upon Harvesting the Low Energy Part of the Solar Spectrum

Here, the ability of a novel near‐infrared dye to noncovalently self‐assemble onto the surface of single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) driven by charge‐transfer interactions is demonstrated. Steady‐state, Raman, and transient absorption spectroscopies corroborate the electron donating character of the near‐infrared dye when combined with SWCNTs, in the form of fluorescence quenching of the excited state of the dye, n‐doping of SWCNTs, and reversible charge transfer, respectively. Formation of the one‐electron oxidized dye as a result of interactions with SWCNTs is supported by spectroelectrochemical measurements. The ultrafast electronic process in the near‐infrared dye, once immobilized onto SWCNTs, starts with the formation of excited states, which decay to the ground state via the intermediate population of a fully charge‐separated state, with characteristic time constants for the charge separation of 1.5 ps and charge recombination of 25 ps, as derived from the multiwavelength global analysis. Of great relevance is the fact that charge‐transfer occurs from the hot excited state of the near‐infrared dye to SWCNTs.     

Charge Transfer Salt and Graphene Heterostructure‐Based Micro‐Supercapacitors with Alternating Current Line‐Filtering Performance

The rapid development of lightweight and wearable devices requires electronic circuits possessing compact, high‐efficiency, and long lifetime in very limited space. Alternating current (AC) line filters are usually tools for manipulating the surplus AC ripples for the operation of most common electronic devices. So far, only aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs) can be utilized for this target. However, the bulky volume in the electronic circuits and limited capacitances have long hindered the development of miniaturized and flexible electronics. In this work, a facile laser‐assisted fabrication approach toward an in‐plane micro‐supercapacitor for AC line filtering based on graphene and conventional charge transfer salt heterostructure is reported. Specifically, the devices reach a phase angle of 73.2° at 120 Hz, a specific capacitance of 151 µF cm^?2, and relaxation time constant of 0.32 ms at the characteristic frequency of 3056 Hz. Furthermore, the scan rate can reach up to 1000 V s^?1. Moreover, the flexibility and stability of the micro‐supercapacitors are tested in gel electrolyte H₂SO₄/PVA, and the capacitance of micro‐supercapacitors retain a stability over 98% after 10 000 cycles. Thus, such micro‐supercapacitors with excellent electrochemical performance can be almost compared with the AECs and will be the next‐generation capacitors for AC line filters.     

Gating of Single‐Layer Graphene with Single‐Stranded Deoxyribonucleic Acids

Patterning of biomolecules on graphene layers could provide new avenues to modulate their electrical properties for novel electronic devices. Single‐stranded deoxyribonucleic acids (ssDNAs) are found to act as negative‐potential gating agents that increase the hole density in single‐layer graphene. Current–voltage measurements of the hybrid ssDNA/graphene system indicate a shift in the Dirac point and “intrinsic” conductance after ssDNA is patterned. The effect of ssDNA is to increase the hole density in the graphene layer, which is calculated to be on the order of 1.8 × 10¹² cm^?2. This increased density is consistent with the Raman frequency shifts in the G‐peak and 2D band positions and the corresponding changes in the G‐peak full width at half maximum. Ab initio calculations using density functional theory rule out significant charge transfer or modification of the graphene band structure in the presence of ssDNA fragments.     

Clean Transfer of Large Graphene Single Crystals for High‐Intactness Suspended Membranes and Liquid Cells

The atomically thin 2D nature of suspended graphene membranes holds promising in numerous technological applications. In particular, the outstanding transparency to electron beam endows graphene membranes great potential as a candidate for specimen support of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). However, major hurdles remain to be addressed to acquire an ultraclean, high‐intactness, and defect‐free suspended graphene membrane. Here, a polymer‐free clean transfer of sub‐centimeter‐sized graphene single crystals onto TEM grids to fabricate large‐area and high‐quality suspended graphene membranes has been achieved. Through the control of interfacial force during the transfer, the intactness of large‐area graphene membranes can be as high as 95%, prominently larger than reported values in previous works. Graphene liquid cells are readily prepared by π–π stacking two clean single‐crystal graphene TEM grids, in which atomic‐scale resolution imaging and temporal evolution of colloid Au nanoparticles are recorded. This facile and scalable production of clean and high‐quality suspended graphene membrane is promising toward their wide applications for electron and optical microscopy.