Ultrahigh Temperature Graphene Molecular Heater

Although a number of molecular devices have been fabricated successfully, molecular heater still keeps blank. It is of great importance to find a satisfactory molecular building block with thicknesses controlled at the atomic level and outstanding electrical properties to achieve the construction of molecular heater. Graphene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecule with strictly atomic thickness, is known as a superior heat and electricity conductor, which makes it a promising building block of the molecular heater. However, the directly grown graphene on insulated substrate suffers from the significant drawback of low quality and nonuniformity and the transferred graphene is criticized because of its cracks and residues. Therefore, the heat temperature is limited to approximate to 200 degrees C in previous graphene-based heaters. Here, a practical graphene molecular heater (GMH) with extremely high heating temperature up to approximate to 600 degrees C at a low voltage of 7.5 V is first constructed, and its heating characteristics are systematically explored. The Joule heating efficiency, temperature distribution, and heating rate of GMH exhibit promising characteristics. The successful construction of GMH suggests a bright future toward the urgent demand of miniaturization for the next-generation devices.