(301a) Controlled Functionalization of Carbon Nanomaterials for Multifunctional Applications

Carbon nanomaterials, including carbon nanotubes and graphene have emerged as an attractive candidate for various applications due to its unique structure and properties. Like other materials, however, carbon nanomaterial that possesses desirable bulk properties rarely features the surface characteristics required for certain specific applications. Therefore, surface functionalization is essential, and researchers have devised various covalent and non-covalent chemistries for making graphitic materials with the bulk and surface properties needed for various specific applications. Judicious application of these site-selective reactions to carbon nanomaterials has opened up a large variety of multifunctional applications, including energy conversion and storage devices, flexible optoelectronics, chemical/bio-sensors, dry adhesives, to name a few.

In this talk, I will provide some rational concepts for the controlled functionalization of carbon nanomaterials for the multifunctional applications, along with an overview on recent progresses in this emerging research area.