2012 Chemistry and Physics of Graphitic Carbon Materials Gordon Research Conference

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

SUMMARY This award supports participation of primarily graduate students and postdocs in the Gordon Research Conference on the Chemistry and Physics of Graphitic Carbon Materials to be held June 17-22, 2012 at Davidson College in North Carolina. The conference will bring together a diverse group of researchers studying a group of closely related carbon-based materials: graphene, carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and various materials based on graphite. On the atomic scale these are amazing materials: graphene has carbon atoms at the vertices of a hexagonal mesh that resembles chickenwire that is only a single atom thick. Carbon nanotubes can be thought of as tiny rolls of this chicken wire. The unusual properties of graphene and other graphitic materials make these systems important both for practical reasons -- potential applications in microelectronics and renewable energy and for the fundamental scientific challenges they present. The conference will highlight the need for further research on graphitic carbon materials, gathering scientists in physics, chemistry, and engineering to tackle the challenges in this field. The conference will focus on scalable synthesis, characterization, novel physical and electronic properties, structure-properties relationship studies, and new applications. This multidisciplinary conference will have an informal workshop environment to encourage interactions and collaborations among scientists and engineers who would normally have little contact with one another. This will allow participants working on application-oriented aspects of these materials to become aware of and exploit the exotic fundamental properties that these materials support. Conversely, scientists interested in the electronic and material properties of graphitic materials will learn about challenges faced in their practical exploitation, and will be motivated to develop increasingly realistic models of them. Moreover, the conference will strongly emphasize participation from members of underrepresented groups at all levels, including within the leadership of the conference, the invited speakers, discussion leaders, and senior and junior participants. Finally, particular effort will be made to integrate the young students and postdoctoral fellows into the science and engineering community interested in graphitic materials.