This work was done during my second year in master degree. I spent around one month to design the experiment and one month to finish the main experiment. For the supporting information and revising the paper, I spent around four months. Now, I become a new Ph.D candidate in TU Delft, Netherlands.
Nano Letters
2010-10-14 submit
2010-10-28 pass the prescreen
2010-12-13 receive the comments
2011-01-09 resubmit the revision
2011-01-20 accepted
2011-01-25 proof ready
2011-01-31 on line
ABSTRACT A novel graphene-on-organic film fabrication method that is compatible with a batch microfabrication process was developed and used for electromechanically driven microactuators. A very thin layer of graphene sheets was monolithically integrated and the unique material characteristics of graphene including negative thermal expansion and high electrical conductivity were exploited to produce a bimorph actuation. A large displacement with rapid response was observed while maintaining the low power consumption. This enabled the successful demonstration of transparent graphene-based organic microactuators.
Comments
1. The authors report a type of thermally actuated bimorph structure comprised of a patterned, few layer film of graphene, on a polymer sheet. Resistive heating assocaited with current flowing through the graphene causes its contraction, due to its negative thermal expansion coefficient, thereby causing a change in shape of free standing cantilever structures. The use of graphene in this mode, and its negative CTE, are main points novelty, of likely interest to the readership of the journal.
2.
The authors fabricate and test micro-actuators made from graphene and epoxy. This work is a novel application of graphene, and highly promising for a number of applictions. In particular, the possibility of using graphene for self-actuating and self-sensing micro/nanoactuators is quite appealing.