The hard work of members of Skoltech’s Laboratory of Nanomaterials paid off earlier this month when they won the best poster and oral presentation awards at a recent high-level conference.

Researchers from the laboratory, led by Professor Albert Nasibulin, presented their research and scientific advances in the field of carbon nanotubes and related nanomaterials during the second Russian conference on Graphene: Molecule and 2D-Crystal.

Specifically, the Skoltech researchers presented on the following topics:

Best poster awards:

• Aerosol assisted doping of SWCNT films (presenter: Anastasia Goldt),
• Local reduction of Graphene Oxide for thermosensors (presenter: Vladislav Kondrashev),

Best oral presentations:

• Transparent conductors based on single-walled carbon nanotube films with record high conductance for modern electronic devices (presenter: Alexey Tsapenko),
• SWCNT-based photonic structures for bolometers (presenter: Daria Kopylova),
• Laser assisted improvement of optoelectrical properties of single-walled carbon nanotube films (presenter: Vsevolod Iakovlev).

Audience members – including leading nanomaterial researchers from across Russia – watched these presentations with rapt attention.

Skoltech PhD student Alexey Tsapenko attributed the team’s success in the competition to a plethora of factors: “Skoltech’s Laboratory of Nanomaterials is a cross-cultural and multi-national place to do research. Our group consists of highly talented people from across the world who are ready to conduct top-quality studies. This genuine interest is always supported by our Professor Albert Nasibulin and Skoltech with its diverse well-equipped labs and facilities. These distinctive features of our institute are among the first ones to help us in our everyday research tasks.”

Asked about the importance of the development of carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials, Tsapenko explained: “To meet the demanding needs of various industries for the next generation products, including flexible and stretchable electronics, novel materials with the properties to fulfill these requirements are needed. Thus, the materials have to possess exceptional characteristics, compared to traditional technologies used today. One such material is single-walled carbon nanotubes with its unique multifunctional nature related to the outstanding combination of mechanical strength and design flexibility, chemical stability, exceptional optical and electrical properties. By combining these high-quality material and technologies, it may be possible to enable the existing products to perform better. For instance, for today’s electronics that means new mechanical properties, battery life enhancement and greener technology. Similar trends may be seen for other industries as well (touch screens, solar cells etc.).”

Their success at the event has inspired the Skoltech team members to continue paving the way to these novel, high-performance carbon-based materials.