Building a Better Graphene Loudspeaker

Electromechanical resonator devices made from suspended graphene sheets have many applications such as gas sensing and information processing. Previous work in our group has demonstrated that graphene possesses several useful properties for audio devices such as microphones and loudspeakers. It has been demonstrated that the low mass of graphene ensures good high-frequency response, while its high strength allows for free-standing diaphragms large enough for effective low-frequency response. Multilayer graphene (tens of layers) being less brittle than single-layer graphene is ideal for the scaling of these devices. In this work, various methods are used to manipulate the physical properties of graphene, and we consider the effects of these methods on overall device performance.