Graphene nanoribbons could feature in computers and data storage devices

The research, led by Dr Andrei Khlobystov from the University's School of Chemistry, features chemical nanoscientists and theoretical chemists, along with electron microscopists from Ulm University. Together, they have demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can be used as nanoscale chemical reactors and that chemical reactions involving carbon and sulphur atoms held within a nanotube lead to the formation of atomically thin strips of carbon – graphene nanoribbons – decorated around their edge with sulphur atoms. Dr Khlobystov said: "Graphene nanoribbons possess a wealth of interesting physical properties, making them more suitable for applications in electronic and spintronic devices than the parent material graphene. "Nanoribbons are very difficult to make, but the strategy of confining chemical reactions at the nanoscale sparks spontaneous formation of these remarkable structures. The team has also discovered that nanoribbons – far from being simple flat and linear structures – possess an unprecedented helical twist that changes over time, giving scientists a way of controlling physical properties of the nanoribbon, such as electrical conductivity." According to the researchers, devices based on nanoribbons could be integrated in computers or data storage devices and used as nanoswitches, nano actuators and nanotransistors.