Nanometer thick elastic graphene engine.
Significant progress has been made in the construction and theoretical understanding of molecular motors because of their potential use. Here, we have demonstrated fabrication of a simple but powerful 1 nm thick graphene engine. The engine comprises a high elastic membrane-piston made of graphene and weakly chemisorbed ClF3 molecules as the high power volume changeable actuator, while a 532 nm LASER acts as the ignition plug. Rapid volume expansion of the ClF3 molecules leads to graphene blisters. The size of the blister is controllable by changing the ignition parameters. The estimated internal pressure per expansion cycle of the engine is about ∼10(6) Pa. The graphene engine presented here shows exceptional reliability, showing no degradation after 10,000 cycles.
Department of Physics, National University of Singapore , 117542 Singapore.
Jong Hak
JH
Lee
Jun You
JY
Tan
Chee-Tat
CT
Toh
Steven P
SP
Koenig
V E
VE
Fedorov
Antonio H
AH
Castro Neto
Barbaros
B
Ozyilmaz