Klaus Müllen and a team from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz have now introduced a new method for the synthesis of long, narrow graphene ribbons with defined dimensions in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
Previously, graphene ribbons were mainly cut out of larger graphene sheets or were obtained by slitting open carbon nanotubes lengthwise. However, with these methods it is impossible to produce ribbons that have a precisely established ratio of width to length as well as defined edges. These details are important because they determine the electronic properties of the ribbons. The search has thus been on for a method that allows controlled production of very narrow graphene ribbons—an extremely difficult challenge. The German researchers working with Müllen are now well on the way to overcome it. They are not starting with large structures to cut up (top-down); instead they are building their ribbons from smaller components (bottom-up).
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