The University of Granada in Spain has launched the Graphene and 2D Semiconductors Laboratory, said to be one of the most complete public laboratories devoted to the manufacture and electric and structural characterization of graphene in Europe. This laboratory is supposedly comparable to that of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) or the one in the University of Stanford (United States).
The new facilities are located in the UGR Research Centre for Information Technology and Communication. With an investment of more than half a million euros, the new laboratory is devoted to the manufacture of all kinds and forms of graphene as well as the development of new graphene-based systems for electronic applications which include biosensors, electronic nanodevices for IoT (Internet of Things) applications, and flexible electronics, in addition to wearable devices.
The new Lab is equipped with the necessary equipment for obtaining CVD graphene sheets of a size up to 25 cm x 10 cm and transferring them to different substrates (rigid and flexible substrates alike). This equipment completes the laboratory of electrical and nano-structural characterization already available in the CITIC. The materials developed can be electrically and structurally characterized in the UGR facilities (thanks to the equipment purchased, which includes an atomic-force microscope) and functionalized for its use as biosensors.
Along with CVD graphene, they have also developed methods for obtaining graphene oxide suspensions from graphite dust. Graphene oxide suspension can be deposited on different substrates for reducing it later, thus obtaining reduced graphene (rGO) using a kind of dip-pen lithography system.
In addition to graphene, the new facilities allow to obtain other 2D materials that, combined with graphene, improve and widen its field of action. These materials, known as transition metals dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as molybdenum disulfide, molybdenum selenide or tungsten selenide, can be 'stacked' for forming structures with which to develop nanoelectronic devices and, from them, developing systems in the field of flexible electronics.