Discoveries of graphene and graphane possessing unique electronic and magnetic properties offer a bright future for carbon based electronics, with future prospects of superseding silicon in the semiconductor industry.
Carbon nanoscrolls (CNSs) are nanomaterials with geometry resembling graphene layers rolled up into a spiral (papyrus-like) form. Effects of hydrogenation and temperature on the self-scrolling process of two nanoribbons interacting with a carbon nanotube (CNT) have been studied by molecular dynamics simulations for three configurations: (1) graphene/graphene/CNT; (2) graphene/graphane/CNT, and (3) graphane/graphane/CNT. Graphane refers to a fully hydrogenated graphene nanoribbon. Nanoscroll formation is observed for configurations (1) and (2) for temperatures 300-1000 K, while nanoribbons wrap…
Here, the possibility of the existence of nitro-graphene derivatives with undisturbed graphene backbone is considered. Based on the first-principles calculation, it is shown that while NO$_2$ is unable to form a covalent bond with bare graphene, it becomes possible in some structures of graphane, fluorographene, and graphene oxide. This paper presents, among others, an analysis of the surrounding influence on the C-NO$_2$ bond strength. The author believes, that potential prospects of these materials and discussion about possible synthesizing routes may help further research on graphene-based …
Since the advent of graphene ushered the era of two-dimensional materials, many forms of hydrogenated graphene have been reported, exhibiting diverse properties ranging from a tunable band gap to ferromagnetic ordering. Patterned hydrogenated graphene with micron-scale patterns has been fabricated by lithographic means. Here we report successful millimeter-scale synthesis of an intrinsically honeycomb patterned form of hydrogenated graphene on Ru(0001) by epitaxial growth followed by hydrogenation. Combining scanning tunneling microscopy observations with density-functional-theory (DFT) calcul…
Graphane is a quasi-two-dimensional material consisting of a single layer of fully hydrogenated graphene, with a C:H ratio of 1. We study nuclear quantum effects in the so-called chair-graphane by using path-integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) simulations. The interatomic interactions are modeled by a tight-binding potential model fitted to density-functional calculations. Finite-temperature properties are studied in the range from 50 to 1500~K. To assess the magnitude of nuclear quantum effects in the properties of graphane, classical molecular dynamics simulations have been also performed. Th…
While halogenation of graphene presents a fascinating avenue to the construction of a chemically and physically diverse class of systems, their application in photovoltaics has been hindered by often prohibitively large optical gaps. Herein we study the effects of partial bromination and chlorination on the structure and optoelectronic properties of both graphane and fluorographene. We find brominated and chlorinated fluorographene derivatives to be as stable as graphane making them likely to be durable even at elevated temperatures. A detailed investigation of the systems band structure revea…
Graphene-based materials (GBMs) constitute a large family of materials which has attracted great interest for potential applications. In this work, we apply first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) and fully atomistic reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the structural and electronic effects of hydrogenation in Me-graphene, a non-zero bandgap GBM composed of both $sp^2$ and $sp^3$-hybridized carbon. Our DFT results show a substantial tuning of the electronic properties of Me-graphene by hydrogenation, with the bandgap varying from $0.64$ eV to $2.…
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)(蔚山科学技术院);IBS-CMCM(韩国基础科学研究所碳材料创新中心);Department of Chemistry, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)(蔚山科学技术院化学系);OLA Battery Innovation Center, OLA Cell Technologies(奥拉电池创新中心,奥拉电池技术公司);Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)(蔚山科学技术院材料科学与工程系);School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)(蔚山科学技术院能源与化学工程学院)
Measuring degeneracy and broken-symmetry states of a system at nanoscale requires extremely high energy and spatial resolution, which has so far eluded direct observation. Here, we realize measurement of the degeneracy and subtle broken-symmetry states of graphene at nanoscale for the first time. By using edge-free graphene quantum dots, we are able to measure valley splitting and valley-contrasting spin splitting of graphene at the single-electron level. Our experiments detect large valley splitting around atomic defects of graphene due to the coexistence of sublattice symmetry breaking and t…
Nanoscale photothermal sources find important applications in theranostics, imaging, and catalysis. In this context, graphene offers a unique suite of optical, electrical, and thermal properties, which we exploit to show self-consistent active photothermal modulation of its nanoscale response. In particular, we predict the existence of plasmons confined to the optical landscape tailored by continuous-wave external-light pumping of homogeneous graphene. This result relies on the high electron temperatures achievable in optically pumped clean graphene while its lattice remains near ambient tempe…
A reciprocal structure (RS) is a mechanical resistant structure formed by a set of self-supporting elements satisfying certain conditions of structural reciprocity (SR) . The first condition is that each element of the structure has to support and be supported by the others. The second condition is that these functions cannot occur in the same part of the element. These two properties make beams and two-dimensional materials very much appropriate to build RSs. Commonly seen in floors or roofs, SR is also present in art, religious symbols and decorative objects. Da Vinci has drawn several examp…
Using a first-principles total energy methodology, we investigated the properties of graphene-like carbon mono and bilayers, functionalized with nitrogen and boron atoms. The resulting stable structures were explored in terms of their potential use as nanoscale two-dimensional building blocks for self-assembly of macroscopic structures. We initially considered graphene monolayers functionalized with nitrogen and boron, but none of them was dynamically stable, in terms of the respective layer phonon spectra. Then, we considered the functionalized graphene-like bilayers (labeled as NCCN, NCNC, B…
Creation of high quality p-n junctions in graphene monolayer is vital in studying many exotic phenomena of massless Dirac fermions. However, even with the fast progress of graphene technology for more than ten years, it remains conspicuously difficult to generate nanoscale and atomically-sharp p-n junctions in graphene. Here, we employ monolayer-vacancy-island engineering of Cu surface to realize nanoscale p-n junctions with atomically-sharp boundaries in graphene monolayer. The variation of graphene-Cu separations around the edges of the Cu monolayer-vacancy-island affects the positions of th…
Graphene has shown great potential for modulating infrared (IR) light in devices as small as 350 nm. At these length scales, nanoscale features of devices, and their interaction with light, can be expected to play a significant role in device performance. Bubbles in van der Waals heterostructures are one such feature, which have recently attracted considerable attention thanks to their ability to modify the optoelectronic properties of 2D materials through strain. Here we use scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (sSNOM) to measure the nanoscale IR response from a network of v…
We use confocal Raman microscopy and modified vector analysis methods to investigate the nanoscale origin of strain and carrier concentration in exfoliated graphene-hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) heterostructures on silicon dioxide (SiO2). Two types of heterostructures are studied: graphene on SiO2 partially coved by hBN, and graphene fully encapsulated between two hBN flakes. We extend the vector analysis methods to produce spatial maps of the strain and doping variation across the heterostructures. This allows us to visualise and directly quantify the much-speculated effect of the environment…
The integration of graphene (Gr) with nitride semiconductors is highly interesting for applications in high-power/high-frequency electronics and optoelectronics. In this work, we demonstrated the direct growth of Gr on Al0.5Ga0.5N/sapphire templates by propane (C3H8) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at temperature of 1350°C. After optimization of the C3H8 flow rate, a uniform and conformal Gr coverage was achieved, which proved beneficial to prevent degradation of AlGaN morphology. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) revealed Ga loss and partial oxidation of Al in the near-surface AlGaN regi…
Nanoscale twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) is quite instable and will change its structure to Bernal (or AB-stacking) bilayer with a much lower energy. Therefore, the lack of nanoscale TBG makes its electronic properties not accessible in experiment up to now. In this work, a special confined TBG is obtained in the overlaid area of two continuous misoriented graphene sheets. The width of the confined region of the TBG changes gradually from about 22 nm to 0 nm. By using scanning tunnelling microscopy, we studied carefully the structure and the electronic properties of the nanoscale TBG. Our resu…
Graphene is attracting vast interest due to its superior electronic and mechanical properties. However, structure and electronic properties of its edge are often neglected, although they are important for nanoscale devices because the edge ratio becomes larger by decreasing the device size. In this study, we suggest a way to fabricate a graphene with atomically aligned zigzag edges by applying hydrogen-plasma etching (HPE) technique. By patterning a graphene prior to HPE, it is succeeded to shape a graphene in desired structure. Both atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy confirm that …
Friction-induced energy dissipation impedes the performance of nanoscale devices during their relative motion. Nevertheless, an ingeniously designed structure which utilizes graphene topping can tune the friction force signal by inducing local strain. The present work reports capping of graphene over Si grooved surfaces of different pitch lengths from sub-nanoscale (P=40 nm) to a quarter of a micron (P= 250 nm). The variation in the pitch lengths induces different strains in graphene revealed by scanning probe techniques, Raman spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The asymmetri…
Inherent symmetries of a system lead to multiple degeneracies of its energy spectra. Introducing individual atomic impurities can locally break these symmetries, which is expected to lift the degenerate degrees of freedom around the impurities. Although central to our understanding of the fundamental properties of solids, the broken-symmetry states induced by individual atomic impurities have so far eluded observation. Here, we report nanoscale probing of the broken-symmetry states in graphene induced by two types of individual atomic impurities, i.e., isolated nitrogen dopants and isolated hy…