Regents’ Professor Walter de Heer is recognized for his invention of graphene based electronics –“Carbon Based Solutions for Urban Life” in Shanghai / Wiesbaden on July 29, 2011.
SGL Group—The Carbon Company has awarded the Utz-Hellmuth Felcht Award for the first time at the International Carbon Conference in Shanghai. This prestigious donation of €20,000 will be awarded by SGL Group every two years in honor of its former Supervisory Board Chairman Prof. Utz-Hellmuth Felcht. Honored will be outstanding scientific and technological contributions in the field of carbon and ceramic materials.
The first winner of the Felcht Award is Professor Walter de Heer from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia for his merits in the area of graphene research and his revolutionary concept of graphene based nanoelectronics.
Dr. Gerd Wingefeld, member of the Board of Management of SGL Group, responsible for Technology and Innovation: “The challenges of our time are global: Energy production from alternative sources, energy storage and energy efficiency. Carbon in its various forms and applications can contribute mastering these challenges. Through his work on electronic transportation mechanisms in graphene, Prof. Walter de Heer opened the door to a new era of extremely small electronic circuits.”
Individual graphite layers are known as graphene. In 2010, Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim were awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physics for their contributions in the field of electrical properties of the thinnest graphite layers. Graphene has the potential to replace silicon in electronics for applications such as ultra-high frequency electronics. At the time, SGL Group presented its “Carbon Based Solutions for Urban Life” concept, which focuses on innovative applications and sustainable solutions through the use of carbon-based products – from electromobility to lightweight solutions, energy efficient infrastructures and cooling systems in buildings.
In general, the Award will honor a single scientific and technological contribution which provided recent impact of significance on manufacturing and application or has the character of a breakthrough in science.
The Utz-Hellmuth Felcht Award will be presented biennially on the occasion of the International Carbon Conferences held alternately in Asia, Europe, and the USA. The selection of the awardees is dedicated to an International Award Committee composed of six renowned scientists and persons of high standing in industry.
