ABSTRACT

Nanocarbons like graphene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and nanofibers are promising for various applications including advanced electronic devices, novel energy systems, and next-generation healthcare diagnostics. This is owing to the excellent physical, chemical and electrochemical properties arising from the ordered atomic structure, the hierarchial nanoscale morphology, and tunable chemistry of nanocarbons. In particulat, high surface area carbon electrodes for biosensors and neural interfaces have. consistently been shown to have superior performance when compared to state-of-the-art metal electrodes. Nevertheless, major manufacturing challenges still hinder our ability to scalably produce nanocarbon-based electrodes with tailored morphology and surface chemistry, especially on flexible substrates. While chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes enable the synthesis of high quality graphene and CNTs, the extreme environments of high temperatures and hydrocarbon-rich gaseous atmosphere in such reactors limit the choice ofo substrates to silicon, quartz, metals or other rigid temperature-resistant materials. On the other hand, many emerging flexible devices require the fabrication of such nanocarbon electrodes on the surface of polymer substrates. Unlike different transfer techniques of CVD-grown nanocarbons, this talk will focus on a unique bottom-up approach for directly growing different types of graphenic nanocarbons on polymer films by laser irradiation. The speaker will show how this direct-writeprocess, often referred to as laster-induced graphene (UG), can be controlled to produce spatially-varying morphologies and chemical compositions of LIG electrodes, by leveraging gradients of laser fluence. Moreover, a method will be introduced to control the heteroatom doping of the LIG electrodes based on controlling the molecular structure of the polymer being lased. Finally, a demonstration of the functional LIG electrodes as electrochemical biosensors will be presented for the detection of the neurotransmitter dopamine with nanomolar sensitivity.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Mostafa Bedewy is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering, with secondary appointments in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he leads the NanoProduct Lab. Before that, he was a Postdoctoral Associate oat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the area of bionanofabrication. In 2014, he completed his PhD at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dr. Bedewy recently received the Frontiers of Materials Award from the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS) in 2022, Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers' Manufacturing and Design (IISE M&D) Division in 2020, Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) in 2018, the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) in 2017, the Robert A. Meyer Award from the American Carbon Society in 2016, the Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for Distinguished Academic Achievement from the University of Michigan in 2014, and the Silver Award from the Materials Research Society (MRS) in 2013. He has published 43 journal articles, 4 book chpaters, and 21 refereed conference papers. His research interests include carbon nanomaterials, laser processing, nanomanufacturing and micromanufacturing, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and biology-assisted manufacturing.