Optical emission was up to 10 million photons per second, about 100 times more intense than the emission measured for previous single-molecular optoelectronic devices.

The energy shift of the main peak changes as a function of the voltage, which provides a way to tune the color of the light.

The researchers will investigate the impact of defects and GNR aspect ratio (width) on emission. They want to integrate graphene nanoribbons devices into larger circuitry to create bright, robust, and controllable graphene-based light-emitting devices.

Abstract

Thanks to their highly tunable band gaps, graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with atomically precise edges are emerging as mechanically and chemically robust candidates for nanoscale light emitting devices of modulable emission color. While their optical properties have been addressed theoretically in depth, only few experimental studies exist, limited to ensemble measurements and without any attempt to integrate them in an electronic-like circuit.