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What is current account deficit, and why does it matter?
The current account measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and out of the country. We run into a deficit if…
What is Banking Ombudsman Scheme?
The Banking Ombudsman actually is a senior official appointed by the RBI to redress customer complaints against pitfalls in the stipulated banking services…
'FDI: India remains top destination'
India remains a preferred destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) as domestic consumption remains strong. With manufacturing sector gathering momentum, helped by both…
'Mauritius tops India's FDI charts again'
Mauritius remained the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India in 2017-18 followed by Singapore, whereas total FDI stood at $37.36…
Only 33% Indians save regularly for retirement, says report
Only a third in India are regularly saving for their retirement while just 33%of working-age respondents globally are putting anything aside for their…
Air pollution cause of 1 in 8 deaths
India, with 18% of the world's population, has a disproportionately high 26% of the global premature deaths and disease burden due to air…
Tourists bring a wave of trash to beaches
In addition to air and water pollution, India can now add one more category to its pollution worries: beach pollution. And here, tourism…
Extinction warning for Australia's 'rat kangaroo'
A truffle-eating Australian marsupial known as the rat kangaroo has suffered a dramatic population decline and could become extinct without urgent action to…
Are drugs discharged into the Yamuna toxic to aquatic life?
By studying nine different pharmaceutical active compounds in Yamuna river, researchers have now pointed out that it can "possibly cause chronic toxicity" to…
The life of Andaman's sea kraits
The Andaman Islands are well-known for stunning beaches and now, the Sentinelese. Less-known are the colourful sea snakes – banded sea kraits…
Why did dinosaurs go extinct?
Every school child knows the dinosaurs were killed off by an asteroid smashing into the Earth some 66 million years ago. But scientists…
Travel on a jet, using a little cooking oil
Your used cooking oil could help fly a jet in the near future. The Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Petroleum has successfully finished…
The arjuna, a keystone tree in Cauvery's river-forests
The arjuna tree (Terminalia arjuna) may be best known for its medicinal properties and its importance to the charismatic grizzled giant squirrel, but…
Salivary protein biomarkers of breast, ovarian cancer metastasis identified
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have taken the first step to identify certain proteins found in saliva that can…
No ifs or butts
Extensive attention has been given to plastic bags and straws as pollutants to the environment and a hazard to the ecosystem. However, very…
BBBP (The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao) Advocacy Campaign
The BBBP advocacy campaign is focussed on creating awareness and discouraging the practice of child marriage How is the government focussed on creating awareness and…
Export of Organic Products
The promotion of exports of organic products is a continuous process. The newly introduced Agriculture Export Policy provides an assurance that no…
Cyclonic storm "PABUK" over South China Sea and its emergence into Andaman Sea on 05th January 2019: Pre-cyclone watch for Andaman Islands
A cyclonic storm "PABUK" lay at 1500 km east-southeast of Port Blair.
M2M/ IoT Enabling Smart Infrastructure
Does the "Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication and the Internet-of-Things (IoT) have the potential to transform our lives, by radically changing the way we interact with…
National Workshop on Agri Export Policy
The Agri export policy has been formulated and it is comprehensive involving all related sectors like R&D, clusters, logistics and transportation. What are the…
Home Current Affairs Science and Technology NPL's device produces high-quality, single-layer graphene
NPL's device produces high-quality, single-layer graphene
Researchers at Delhi's National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) have designed a low-pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) device that allows high quality, single-layer graphene measuring 4 inches in length and 2 inches in width to be grown.
The quality of the single-layer graphene is metrology-grade, and can be used in next-generation quantum devices.
The thickness of a single layer is 0.34 nanometre and average grain size of graphene is 1-3 micrometre.
Though there are about one billion grains in 4×2 square-inch single-layer graphene, the grains are highly connected to give a single continuous layer of graphene.
Tell us about the Cost-effectiveness
The LPCVD device developed indigenously costs about Rs.5,00,000, which is one-tenth of the imported ones.
More importantly, the quality of the single-layer graphene grown using this device is superior than the ones reported in the literature.
By growing single-layer graphene of high quality repeatedly for up to 30 times, the team has demonstrated reproducibility.
It is possible to grow single-layer graphene measuring 6×4 square-inches but the quality will not be as good as when we grow graphene of smaller dimensions.
This is because when attempts are made to grow larger graphene single layers, it is difficult to control the diffusion of carbon atoms which get deposited on the copper substrate.
This compromises the quality of graphene single layer produced.
Generally, LPCVD devices have three mass flow meters through which hydrogen, argon and hydrocarbon gases are supplied to grow the graphene.
Since the mass flow meters are expensive the team replaced two such meters that supply argon and hydrocarbon with calibrated rotameters.
Unlike hydrogen, both argon and hydrocarbon have higher molecular weight and so it is easy to control the flow these gases.
The graphene was grown on a substrate made of copper, which acts as a catalyst.
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