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Kelly Cooley
University of Missouri--Saint Louis
Advisor: Dr. Philip Fraundorf
Abstract
When processing space dust from the Murchison meteorite, many carbon onions were found. Some of these carbon onions are also referred to as graphene onions as they have outer layers of regular graphite but the cores of these onions are made up of un-layered graphene. These onions are believed to be formed in the atmosphere of red giant stars from various locations in the galaxy. Associated with these onions are a series of questions: how did they form, how does this un-layered graphene enter the picture, and what are the properties of the cores. Our study focused on the density of the un-layered graphene found using energy filtered transmission electron microscopy with a Leo-Zeiss 912 EFTEM. The images taken with the microscope were then analyzed using the Image J1 program and a series of calculations in Excel which led to our estimation of a core mean free path of approximately 1.47 times that of the rim.
Kelly Cooley from Krakow, Missouri, is a senior undergraduate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UM Saint Louis. Her interests are in materials science and nano-technology, a path she will be pursuing in graduate school at West Virginia University. She hopes to eventually work in academia.
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