He worked at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland from 1987 to 1997, and is currently a Regents' Professor of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

[4] De Heer turned to carbon nanotubes in 1995, showing that they are excellent field emitters, with potential application to flat panel displays.

[5] In 1998, he discovered that carbon nanotubes are ballistic conductors at room temperature,[6][7] meaning that they conduct electrons over relatively large distances without resistance.

De Heer and coworkers Claire Berger and Phillip First hold the first patent on graphene-based electronics,[14] provisionally filed in June 2003.

The approach championed by De Heer has the advantage of producing graphene directly on a high-quality electronic material (silicon carbide) and does not require isolation or transfer to any other substrate.

[13] In 2014, De Heer and co-workers demonstrated exceptional ballistic transport properties of epigraphene nanoribbons on silicon carbide substrate steps.

[24] De Heer has been awarded the 2010 Materials Research Society Medal "for his pioneering contributions to the science and technology of epitaxial graphene".