Topics of interest:
- Graphene;
- 2D Materials;
- Protective Coatings.
The research on nanostructured materials in our group began with the study of protective coatings with an emphasis on diamond-like carbon films (DLC-diamond like carbon) and their alloys. It was sought to correlate the mechanical and tribological properties of coatings with their chemical composition and microstructure. Today, we investigate coatings produced by PECVD (Plasma Enhanced CVD) composed of atoms of silicon and nitrogen atoms in addition to carbon. Subsequently the focus of the activities was fixed in the study of one-dimensional materials, carbon nanotubes, both single-walled and multiwalled carbon nanotubes. In recent years the activities have focused on the synthesis of 2D materials produced by CVD. Several problems have been addressed such as the doping of graphene by boron atoms, nitrogen and phosphorus, the growth in diverse substrates such as steel and germanium and alternative transfer processes. We also studied graphene oxide nanocomposites for their use as an anti- corrosion coating. Membranes based on GO are studied for application on water purification or in desalination structures. Recently, we start the study of other 2D materials such as tungsten disulfide and graphene-based heterostructures.