An important Lebanese achievement in "nanotechnology" in America

The Lebanese American University LAU announced today in a statement, that the prestigious magazine in the world of science and technology nature communication published in its issue of June 2015 an article about a very important scientific discovery in the field of nanotechnology accomplished by a group of scientists led by Ph.D. student Mohammed Kabbani in the American Rice University in Houston - Texas. 
This statement said that Kabbani graduated in BS in chemistry at LAU with high privilege degrees and then went to Rice University to pursue his Ph.D. studies in material engineering and nanotechnology under the supervision of this material famous scientist Pullickel Ajayan.
Explaining, that the study has developed a basic technique for producing nanoribbons by grinding nanotubes in a mortar and pestle. In this first solid state reaction of carbon nanotubes, it was shown the very smooth manual grinding method can induce a chemical reaction that unzips the nanotubes into graphene nanoribbons, avoiding the usual harsh chemical and heating conditions that can cause ripples, wrinkles and defects in the graphene, making it less convenient for electronic devices.
The article pointed out that this chemical reaction is the first of its kind which occurres in the solid state between two types of carbon nanotubes which each one of them hold a different functional groups. Also, this reaction is done under the room temperature and normal atmospheric and away from the intensive use of concentrated chemicals which their use will often lead to a significant reduction in the electric graphene connection, vibrations and ripples and much more defects that will cause the reaction to lose its effectiveness in the electronics world.
In addition, the method this young scientist discovered has much diversity, either by changing the functional groups on the surface of these nanotubes or by the doping process with other materials to increase the speed of their charge carriers and then its electric connection and electronic effectiveness.