Mechanical engineer fixes graphene production flaws

Kim Taek-soo, mechanical
engineering professor at KAIST

By Yoon Sung-won

Korean mechanical engineering expert Kim Taek-soo and his research team have developed a technology that can fix flaws in graphene production, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said Thursday.

The KAIST professor said the new technology is expected to facilitate the use of graphene, which is considered a next-generation nanomaterial. Graphene is expected to revolutionize a wide variety of products, from flexible displays and batteries to wearable devices and even condoms.

"Our research has led to the development of original technology that can easily fix the flaws of graphene to improve its electrical and mechanical attributes," Kim said. "The technology is expected to contribute to the practical use of graphene."

Kim majored in mechanical engineering at Yonsei University and acquired master's and doctoral degrees in the same subject at Stanford University in 2006 and 2010, respectively. After completing the postdoctoral research fellow course at Stanford, he has worked as an assistant and associate professor since 2010.

He has worked to develop graphene material technologies since 2013 in a project sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

In his academic career as a mechanical engineering expert, Kim has specialized in revealing the flaws in graphene and fixing them. He has also focused on developing thin film materials for flexible electronic devices.

Graphene is a super-strong, superconductive carbon sheet one atom thick. It has a myriad uses, as it is flexible yet stronger than steel, impermeable yet transparent, and capable of increasing battery recharge speed tenfold.

But the process of chemically synthesizing graphene has flaws that degrade its electric and mechanical attributes. To fix this flaw, Kim and his research team have developed a process of connecting graphene to a cathode and applying direct current electricity to vapor-deposit metal ions.

KAIST said the result of the research was published last Dec. 29 in the online edition of the international science journal ACS Nano.

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