Carbon Based Films: Characterization, Radiofrequency and Terahertz Applications

A special issue of C (ISSN 2311-5629). This special issue belongs to the section "Carbon Materials and Carbon Allotropes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 10633

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET), Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy
Interests: global navigation satellite system reflectometry; carbon nanotubes–polymer composites; carbon-based materials for electromagnetic shielding; thin films
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the search for novel materials, carbon-based materials (carbon nanotubes, graphene, and biochar) are some of the most sought-after materials due to their interesting electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties. The properties of carbon-based materials and films have been widely analyzed in the terahertz frequency range where plasmonic effects occur. Recently, the practical utility of carbon-based films in the microwave frequency spectrum has been researched, and potential applications including sensing, shielding and RF and wireless communications are emerging. Further research needs to be done in order to expand the horizon in terms of practical applications and functional device prototypes.

This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in the characterization and applications of carbon-based films.

Suggested topics for this Special Issue include:

  • Characterization and modeling of carbon-based films for microwave applications;
  • Passive tunable components based on carbon films;
  • Carbon-based films and sensing;
  • Innovative shielding films;
  • Films for satellite and space applications.
Dr. Patrizia Savi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Carbon films
  • Microwave components
  • Sensing
  • Flexible electronics
  • Tunable devices
  • Shielding effectiveness

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 7814 KiB  
Article
Morphological Characterization and Lumped Element Model of Graphene and Biochar Thick Films
by Muhammad Yasir, Pietro Zaccagnini, Gianluca Palmara, Francesca Frascella, Niccolò Paccotti and Patrizia Savi
C 2021, 7(2), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/c7020036 - 27 Mar 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3044
Abstract
Carbon based materials exhibit interesting mechanical, thermal and electrical properties which make them excellent contenders for use as fillers in composites as film. Graphene has been vastly used among the carbon-based materials. More recently eco-friendly carbon-based materials like biochar have emerged. The deployment [...] Read more.
Carbon based materials exhibit interesting mechanical, thermal and electrical properties which make them excellent contenders for use as fillers in composites as film. Graphene has been vastly used among the carbon-based materials. More recently eco-friendly carbon-based materials like biochar have emerged. The deployment of carbon-based materials in films needs to be studied since films are more versatile and permit the exploitation of electrical properties of such materials over circuits and systems. Typical circuits and systems exploiting electrical properties of novel materials perform a number of applications including sensing, detection, tunable devices and energy harvesting. In this paper, films composed of 9:1 graphene or biochar are deployed on a microstrip line. The morphological properties of graphene and biochar and their respective films are studied with Raman spectra and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). The electrical properties (four-point probe measurements and scattering parameter measurements) of the films. Low frequency measurements are used as starting point for circuit models estimating the lumped impedance of the films. From the morphological characterization it is shown that biochar films appear as granulates carbonaceous materials whereas graphene films contains several flakes forming a network. From the low frequency measurements and microwave characterization it is seen that graphene films are more conductive as compared to biochar films. In many applications, it is useful to know the surface impedance of the film since it varies on interaction with any external stimulus (variation of pressure, humidity, gas, etc.). Full article
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16 pages, 4903 KiB  
Article
Wideband Radar Absorbing Structure Using Polyaniline-Graphene Nanocomposite
by Paulbert Thomas, Libimol V. Abdulhakim, Neeraj K. Pushkaran and Aanandan C. Karuvandi
C 2020, 6(4), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/c6040072 - 5 Nov 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3646
Abstract
A wideband non-resonant absorber is proposed, and its radar cross section (RCS) reduction is investigated. A discussion on the functional materials available is followed by the design of an absorber on a Plexiglas substrate with polyaniline-graphene nanocomposite as layered square inclusions with thicknesses [...] Read more.
A wideband non-resonant absorber is proposed, and its radar cross section (RCS) reduction is investigated. A discussion on the functional materials available is followed by the design of an absorber on a Plexiglas substrate with polyaniline-graphene nanocomposite as layered square inclusions with thicknesses and conductivities scaled to golden ratio. The measured dielectric properties of polyaniline-graphene nanocomposites are used in the fullwave simulation. The design parameters have been identified and optimized using CST Microwave Studio. As designed structure is fabricated and the reflection is measured. The objective of the work is to demonstrate the use of non-metallic conducting polymer composites devoid of metals for radar absorbing material (RAM) structural designs. The structure is an all-polymer and electrically thin design with a potential to be 3D printed to suit the target object. Full article
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13 pages, 3327 KiB  
Article
Improving the Performance of Printable Carbon Electrodes by Femtosecond Laser Treatment
by Marco Girolami, Alessandro Bellucci, Matteo Mastellone, Valerio Serpente, Stefano Orlando, Veronica Valentini, Alessandro L. Palma, Aldo Di Carlo and Daniele M. Trucchi
C 2020, 6(3), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/c6030048 - 16 Jul 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3058
Abstract
Low-cost carbon-conductive films were screen-printed on a Plexiglas® substrate, and then, after a standard annealing procedure, subjected to femtosecond (fs) laser treatments at different values of total accumulated laser fluence ΦA. Four-point probe measurements showed that, if ΦA > [...] Read more.
Low-cost carbon-conductive films were screen-printed on a Plexiglas® substrate, and then, after a standard annealing procedure, subjected to femtosecond (fs) laser treatments at different values of total accumulated laser fluence ΦA. Four-point probe measurements showed that, if ΦA > 0.3 kJ/cm2, the sheet resistance of laser-treated films can be reduced down to about 15 Ω/sq, which is a value more than 20% lower than that measured on as-annealed untreated films. Furthermore, as pointed out by a comprehensive Raman spectroscopy analysis, it was found that sheet resistance decreases linearly with ΦA, due to a progressively higher degree of crystallinity and stacking order of the graphitic phase. Results therefore highlight that fs-laser treatment can be profitably used as an additional process for improving the performance of printable carbon electrodes, which have been recently proposed as a valid alternative to metal electrodes for stable and up-scalable perovskite solar cells. Full article
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