Functional anchors connecting graphene-like carbon to metal

1. A structure comprising:

a graphene-like carbon;

a conducting material; and

a functional linker directly linking the graphene-like carbon and the conducting material, thus forming a graphene-like carbon-functional linker-conducting material structure, wherein the direct linkage between the graphene-like carbon and the conducting material directly anchors the graphene-like carbon to the conducting material, the conducting material comprising an electrode.

2. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the graphene like carbon is selected from the group consisting of single-walled carbon nanotubes, double-walled carbon nanotubes, multiple-walled carbon nanotubes, carbon nanotube bundles, carbon nanotube fibers, single layer graphenes, multiple layer graphenes, graphite surfaces, graphene nano ribbons, and fullerenes.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the conducting material is selected from the group consisting of a metal, metal alloys, metal carbides, metal hydrides, metal oxides and metal sulfides.

4. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the functional linker bonds to the graphene-like carbon through a covalent bond and the functional linker bonds to the conducting material through an electron sharing bond.

5. The structure of claim 4 , wherein the electron sharing bond is selected from the group consisting of ionic bond, hydrogen bond and covalent bond.

6. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the functional linker is an organic linker.

7. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the functional linker is a π conjugated functional linker.

8. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the functional linker has common formula A l B m Z n with l=0 or 1, m=0 or 1 and n=0 or 1, wherein at least one of l and n is 1, wherein A is a functional group having the ability to bind to the conducting material, Z is a functional group having ability to bind the graphene-like carbon, and B is a functional group having ability to bind to both A and Z.

9. The structure of claim 8 , wherein the functional linker is selected from the group consisting of A, Z, AZ, and ABZ.

10. The structure of claim 8 , wherein A is a compound binding the conducting material through an H bond selected from the group consisting of i) QRp, wherein Q is an element independently selected from the group consisting of O, N, C, B, S, P, Si, Al, Se, As, Ge, Ga In, Sn, Sb, Te, Tl, Pb, Bi, and Po, R is any combination of atoms bonded to Q, p is equal to or greater than 0, and ii) any combination of two or more of said QRp linked together through X, with X being a collection of atoms.

11. The structure of claim 10 , wherein A is selected from the group consisting of a carboxylic group, nitrogen, carboxamide, thiol, sulfuric acid, phosphate acid benzene acetylene, amide and any of the compounds having the following formulas —S—, —O—, —N—, —SO 3 —, —COO—, and —CON—.

12. The structure of claim 8 , wherein Z is selected from the groups consisting of phenyl acetyl, oxygen, nitrogen and a carbon containing group binding a p-π orbital in the graphene-like carbon through a p-π orbital in the carbon containing group.

13. The structure of claim 8 , wherein B is a compound of formula

(CR m ) n

wherein

R is independently selected from hydrogen, a group containing oxygen, a group containing nitrogen, an halogen, a group containing phosphorous and a group containing sulphur,

m is 0, 1 or 2, and

n is integer.

14. The structure of claim 8 , wherein B is a conjugated group selected from the group consisting of

15. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube is selected from the group consisting of: single-walled carbon nanotube, double-walled carbon nanotube and multi-walled carbon nanotube.

16. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the conducting material is selected from the group consisting of platinum, copper, palladium, gold, silver, ruthenium, and nickel.

17. An integrated circuit comprising the structure of claim 1 .

18. The integrated circuit of claim 17 , comprising an interconnect layer, the interconnect layer comprising the graphene-like carbon of claim 1 .

19. The integrated circuit of claim 18 , wherein the graphene-like carbon is a carbon nanotube and the conducting material is a metal electrode.

20. A method of manufacturing integrated circuits, the method comprising:

providing a conducting material to form at least one electrode;

providing a graphene-like carbon to form at least one portion of an interconnect layer;

providing a functional linker able to directly link the conducting material forming the at least one electrode and the graphene-like carbon; and

contacting the at least one electrode with the directly linked functional linker and the at least one portion of the interconnect layer to form an electrode-functional linker-interconnect layer structure,

the electrode-functional linker-interconnect layer structure being part of the integrated circuit.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the at least one electrode is part of an electronic device, the electronic device being part of the integrated circuit, the integrated circuit further comprising a semiconductor substrate and a dielectric material, the method comprising:

providing the semiconductor substrate;

forming the electronic device on the semiconductor substrate;

forming a dielectric layer comprising the dielectric material on the semiconductor substrate, and

forming the interconnect layer on the semiconductor substrate;

wherein the functional linker is a functional anchor, and wherein the structure is a graphene-like carbon-functional anchor-electronic device structure.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the graphene-like carbon is a nanotube manufactured in a separate process prior to being deposited on the semiconductor substrate.

23. The method of claim 21 , further comprising a chemical-mechanical polishing of the semiconductor substrate at some point after forming the interconnect layer.

24. A fuel cell comprising the structure of claim 1 ,

wherein:

a support comprises the graphene-like carbon;

an anode comprises the conducting material;

a cathode comprises the conducting material:

wherein:

the fuel cell further comprises a proton exchange electrolyte membrane, and at least one of the anode and the cathode is linked to the graphene-like carbon by the functional linker capable of linking the conducting material and the graphene-like carbon in a graphene-like carbon-functional linker-conducting material structure.

25. The fuel cell of claim 24 , further comprising a catalyst formed of a conducting material wherein the functional linker links the conducting material of the catalyst and the graphene-like carbon of the support in a graphene-like carbon-functional linker-conducting material structure.

26. The fuel cell of claim 24 , wherein the functional linker is an organic linker and the conducting material is platinum.

27. The fuel cell of claim 24 , further comprising an anode current collector.

28. The fuel cell of claim 24 , further comprising manifolds which deliver fuel and oxidant to the anode and cathode respectively.

29. The fuel cell of claim 24 , wherein the anode, the proton exchange electrolyte membrane, and the cathode form a membrane electrode assembly with a thickness of no more than about 300 μm.

30. The fuel cell of claim 24 wherein the catalyst is comprised in an amount between 25 wt. % and 35 wt. %.

31. A structure comprising:

a graphene-like carbon;

an electrode; and

a functional linker, linking the graphene-like carbon and the electrode, thus forming a graphene-like carbon-functional linker-electrode structure.

32. The structure of claim 31 , wherein the electrode is one or more electrodes, and the functional linker is one or more corresponding functional linkers, linking the graphene-like carbon to a corresponding electrode, whereby the graphene-like carbon-functional linker-electrode structure is a structure with one or more electrodes linked to the graphene-like carbon through respective one or more functional linkers.

33. A structure comprising:

one or more continuously extending individual graphene-like carbons, each continuously extending individual graphene-like carbon comprising two or more functional linkers;

a first electrode; and

a second electrode;

wherein, for each continuously extending individual graphene-like carbon, a first functional linker of the two or more functional linkers directly links the continuously extending individual graphene-like carbon to the first electrode and a second functional linker of the two or more functional linkers directly links the continuously extending individual graphene-like carbon to the second electrode.