Pillared Graphene

Schematic representation of Pillared graphene. From Sihn et. al.

           So, everybody loves carbon nanotubes and everybody loves graphene; why not throw them together? Pillared graphene is just that. Take sheets of graphene and connect them with carbon nanotubes that emanate perpendicularly from their surface and that gives you pillared graphene. It's only been studied numerically, but in a few years you should expect to see it done experimentally. These images were taken from a paper by Sihn et.al where they numerically modeled the mechanical properties of these structures. Sadly, these composite structures are not stiffer than regular graphene. But they do look hella cool, and they will undoubtedly have some amazing applications.