SIUC Physics Seminar
School of Physics and Applied Physics, Southern Illinois University--Carbondale
2026 February 20 Friday 4:00 PM:
Physics Seminar in Neckers 440
Title: Pore Formation in Graphene Oxide (GO): A First-Principles Study
Speaker: Manuka Sinharage
Affiliation: Southern Illinois University--Carbondale
Abstract:
Graphene oxide (GO) is an attractive material both as a scalable route for
the mass production of graphene and for its own tunable electronic properties.
The formation of nanopores during the oxidation of graphene has been reported,
and porous GO has shown potential for various applications, including
nanofiltration membranes. However, the random distribution of oxygen-containing
functional groups in porous GO poses challenges to the reproducibility and
specificity of its properties. In this work, we discuss the mechanism of pore
formation in GO based on results from first-principles Density Functional
Theory (DFT) calculations, which may help identify improved synthesis
approaches for controlled porous GO structures.
Biography:
Manuka Sinharage completed his Bachelor's degree in Physics
from the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka. Manuka then earned his
Master's in Physics from Southern Illinois University Carbondale,
and he is currently a PhD student here at SIUC. His research focuses
on computational materials physics and biophysics, where he uses
computational methods to study the structural and electronic properties
of advanced materials and biological systems.
Last updated on
by K V Shajesh
(kvshajesh@gmail.com).