Interactions of magnetic elements with graphene may lead to various electronic states that have potential applications. We report an in-situ experiment in which the quantum transport properties of graphene are measured with increasing cobalt coverage in continuous ultra-high vacuum environment. The results show that e-beam deposited cobalt forms clusters on the surface of graphene, even at low sample temperatures. Scattering of charge carriers by the absorbed cobalt clusters results in the disappearance of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations and the appearance of negative magnetoresistance (MR) which shows no sign of saturation up to an applied magnetic field of 9 T. We propose that these observations could originate from quantum interference driven by cobalt disorder and can be explained by the weak localization theory.
Graphene decorated with 5d transitional metal atoms is predicted to exhibit many intriguing properties; for example iridium adatoms are proposed to induce a substantial topological gap in graphene. We extensively investigated the conductivity of single-layer graphene decorated with iridium deposited in ultra-high vacuum at low temperature (7 K) as a function of Ir concentration, carrier density, temperature, and annealing conditions. Our results are consistent with the formation of Ir clusters of ~100 atoms at low temperature, with each cluster donating a single electronic charge to graphene. …
We theoretically study absorption by an undoped graphene layer decorated with arrays of small particles. We discuss periodic and random arrays within a common formalism, which predicts a maximum absorption of $50\%$ for suspended graphene in both cases. The limits of weak and strong scatterers are investigated and an unusual dependence on particle-graphene separation is found and explained in terms of the effective number of contributing evanescent diffraction orders of the array. Our results can be important to boost absorption by single layer graphene due to its simple setup with potential a…
Liquid-based applications of biomolecule-decorated field-effect transistors (FETs) range from biosensors to in vivo implants. A critical scientific challenge is to develop a quantitative understanding of the gating effect of charged biomolecules in ionic solution and how this influences the readout of the FETs. To address this issue, we fabricated protein-decorated graphene FETs and measured their electrical properties, specifically the shift in Dirac voltage, in solutions of varying ionic strength. We found excellent quantitative agreement with a model that accounts for both the graphene pola…
The electronic transport properties of single layer graphene having a dilute coating of indium adatoms has been investigated. Our studies establish that isolated indium atoms donate electrons to graphene and become a source of charged impurity scattering, affecting the conductivity as well as magnetotransport properties of the pristine graphene. Notably, a positive magnetoresistance is observed over a wide density range after In doping. The low field magnetoresistance carries signatures of quantum interference effects which are significantly altered by the adatoms.
We report a strain-controlled tuning of magnetism in transition-metal-atom-decorated graphene. Our first-principles calculations demonstrate that strain can lead to a sudden change in the magnetic configuration of a transition metal (TM) adatom and the local atomic structure in the sur- rounding graphene layer, which have a dramatic effect on the effective exchange coupling between neighboring TM atoms. A strong spin-dependent hybridization between TM d and graphene 1/4 orbital states, derived from the orbital selection rule of the local lattice symmetry, is responsible for the determination o…
The electronic transport properties of monolayer graphene have been studied before and after the deposition of a dilute coating of tungsten adatoms on the surface. For coverages up to 2.5\% of a monolayer, we find tungsten adatoms simultaneously donate electrons to graphene and reduce the carrier mobility, impacting the zero- and finite-field transport properties. Two independent transport analyses suggest the adatoms lie nearly 1 nm above the surface. The presence of adatoms is also seen to impact the low field magnetoresistance, altering the signatures of weak localization.
Using typical experimental techniques it is difficult to separate the effects of carrier density and disorder on the superconducting transition in two dimensions. Using a simple fabrication procedure based on metal layer dewetting, we have produced graphene sheets decorated with a non-percolating network of nanoscale tin clusters. These metal clusters both efficiently dope the graphene substrate and induce long-range superconducting correlations. This allows us to study the superconducting transition at fixed disorder and variable carrier concentration. We find that despite structural inhomoge…
Recent experiments reporting unexpectedly large spin Hall effect (SHE) in graphene decorated with adatoms have raised a fierce controversy. We apply numerically exact Kubo and Landauer- Buttiker formulas to realistic models of gold-decorated disordered graphene (including adatom clustering) to obtain the spin Hall conductivity and spin Hall angle, as well as the nonlocal resistance as a quantity accessible to experiments. Large spin Hall angles of 0.1 are obtained at zero-temperature, but their dependence on adatom clustering differs from the predictions of semiclassical transport theories. F…
Realization of the quantum-spin-Hall effect in graphene devices has remained an outstanding challenge dating back to the inception of the field of topological insulators. Graphene's exceptionally weak spin-orbit coupling -stemming from carbon's low mass- poses the primary obstacle. We experimentally and theoretically study artificially enhanced spin-orbit coupling in graphene via random decoration with dilute Bi2Te3 nanoparticles. Remarkably, multi-terminal resistance measurements suggest the presence of helical edge states characteristic of a quantum-spin-Hall phase; the magnetic-field and te…
We showed in past work that nanopatterned monolayer graphene (NPG) enables spectrally selective thermal emission in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) from 3 to 12 $μ$m. In that case the spectral selection is realized by means of the localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonances inside graphene. Here we show that graphene decorated with metallic nanoparticles, such as Ag nanocubes or nanospheres, also realize spectrally selective thermal emission, but in this case by means of acoustic graphene plasmons (AGPs) localized between graphene and the Ag nanoparticle inside a dielectric material. Our finite-diffe…
Theoretical predictions and recent experimental results suggest one can engineer spin Hall effect in graphene by enhancing the spin-orbit coupling in the vicinity of an impurity. We use a Chebyshev expansion of the Kubo-Bastin formula to compute the spin conductivity tensor for a tight-binding model of graphene with randomly distributed impurities absorbed on top of carbon atoms. We model the impurity-induced spin-orbit coupling with a graphene-only Hamiltonian that takes into account three different contributions~\cite{Gmitra2013} and show how the spin Hall and longitudinal conductivities dep…
The interplay between electron-electron interaction and electron-phonon coupling has been one of the key issues in graphene as it can provide information on the origin of enhanced electron-phonon coupling in graphene by foreign atoms. In ytterbium-decorated graphene on SiC substrate, electron-phonon coupling exhibits strong enhancement compared to that of as-grown graphene. Based on angle-resolved photoemission study, the presence of ytterbium is also found to result in the decrease of Fermi velocity, revealing the enhancement of electron-electron interaction within the Fermi liquid theory. Ou…
The introduction of spin-orbit interactions (SOIs) and the subsequent appearance of a two-dimensional (2D) topological phase are crucial for voltage-controlled and zero-emission energy spintronic devices. In contrast, graphene basically lacks SOIs due to the small mass of the carbon atom, and appropriate experimental reports for SOIs are rare. Here, we control small-amount (cover ratios < 8%) random decoration of heavy nanoparticles [platinum (Pt) or bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3)] onto mono-layer graphene by developing an original nanoneedle method. X-ray photoelectron spectra support low-damage …
Graphene is a true two dimensional material with exceptional electronic properties and enormous potential for practical applications. Graphene's promise as a chemical sensor material has been noted but there has been relatively little work on practical chemical sensing using graphene, and in particular how chemical functionalization may be used to sensitize graphene to chemical vapors. Here we show one route towards improving the ability of graphene to work as a chemical sensor by using single stranded DNA as a sensitizing agent. The resulting broad response devices show fast response times, c…
We investigate the role of the substrate for the strength of the electon phonon coupling in Li-decorated graphene. We find that the interaction with a $h$-BN substrate leads to a significant enhancement from $λ_0=0.62$ to $λ_1=0.67$, which corresponds to a $25\%$ increase of the transition temperature from $T_{c0}=10.33$ K to $T_{c1}=12.98$ K. The superconducting gaps amount to 1.56 meV (suspended) and 1.98 meV (supported). These findings open up a new route to enhanced superconducting transition temperatures in graphene-based materials by substrate engineering.
The naturally weak spin-orbit coupling in Graphene can be largely enhanced by adatom deposition (e.g. Weeks et al. Phys. Rev. X 1, 021001 (2011)). However, the dynamics of the adatoms also induces a coupling between phonons and the electron spin. Using group theory and a tight-binding model, we systematically investigate the coupling between the low-energy in-plane phonons and the electron spin in single-layer graphene uniformly decorated with heavy adatoms. Our results provide the foundation for future investigations of spin transport and superconductivity in this system. In order to quantify…
Based on first principles calculation, the electronic properties of graphene on metal (Ti, Ca, Ni, Mn, Co, Fe, Cr, K) modified SiO2 substrate have been studied. The results of binding energies supported graphene indicate that the metal atoms are adsorbed more stably on O surface than on Si surface of SiO2 substrate, and graphene is adsorbed very stably on metal modified substrate. The band structures of supported graphene are similar with that of suspending graphene when deposited on Co modified SiO2 surface, but change obviously with the effect of decorated Fe atoms. Interesting, a semi-metal…
We present here the results on superconducting properties in tantalum thin films (100nm thick) deposited on three-dimensional graphene (3DG) and carbon structures. A superconducting transition is observed in both composite thin films with a superconducting transition temperature of 1.2K and 1.0K, respectively. We have further measured the magnetoresistance at various temperatures and differential resistance dV/dI at different magnetic fields in these two composite thin films. In both samples, a much large critical magnetic field (~ 2 Tesla) is observed and this critical magnetic field shows li…
We present a two-band model based on periodic Hückel theory, which is capable of predicting the existence and position of Dirac cones in the first Brillouin zone of an infinite class of two-dimensional periodic carbon networks, obtained by systematic perturbation of the graphene connectivity by bond decoration, that is by inclusion of arbitrary $π$-electron Hückel networks into each of the three carbon-carbon $π$-bonds within the graphene unit cell. The bond decoration process can fundamentally modify the graphene unit cell and honeycomb connectivity, representing a simple and general way to d…
The phase diagram of graphene decorated with magnetic adatoms distributed either on a single sublattice, or evenly over the two sublattices, is computed for adatom concentrations as low as $\sim1\%$. Within the framework of the $s$-$d$ interaction, we take into account disorder effects due to the random positioning of the adatoms and/or to the thermal fluctuations in the direction of magnetic moments. Despite the presence of disorder, the magnetic phases are shown to be stable down to the lowest concentration accessed here. This result agrees with several experimental observations where adatom…
Guanine-quadruplex, consisting of several stacked guanine-quartets (GQs), has emerged as an important category of novel molecular targets with applications from nanoelectronic devices to anticancer drugs. Incorporation of metal cations into GQ structure is utilized to form stable G-quadruplexes, while no other passage has been reported yet. Here we report the room temperature (RT) molecular self-assembly of extensive metal-free GQ networks on Au(111) surface. Surface defect induced by an implanted molybdenum atom within Au(111) surface is used to nucleate and stabilize the cation-free GQ netwo…
We study silicene on hexagonal boron nitride, using first principles calculations. Since hexagonal boron nitride is semiconducting, the interaction with silicene is weaker than for metallic substrates. It therefore is possible to open a 50 meV band gap in the silicene. We further address the effect of Mn decoration by determining the onsite Hubbard interaction parameter, which turns out to differ significantly for decoration at the top and hollow sites. The induced magnetism in the system is analyzed in detail.
We calculate the two-time current correlation function using the experimental data of the current-time characteristics of the Gas-DNA-decorated carbon nanotube field effect transistor. The pattern of the correlation function is a measure of the sensitivity and selectivity of the sensors and suggest that these gas flow sensors may also be used as DNA sequence detectors. The system is modelled by a one-dimensional tight-binding Hamiltonian and we present analytical calculations of quantum electronic transport for the system using the time-dependent nonequilibrium Green's function formalism and t…
Wrinkles in monolayer graphene (GN) affect the GN electronic and transport properties. Defined network of wrinkles can be reached by placing the GN on the substrate decorated with the nanoparticles (NPs). In order to explain mechanism behind the topographically induced changes of the GN electronic structure and to correlate it with the wrinkling, correct description of the GN morphology is of high demand. We demonstrate here how to determine from the atomic force microscopy (AFM) images whether the GN is in the contact with the substrate or it is delaminated, how is the wrinkling of the layer …
We have performed density functional theory calculations of graphene decorated with carbon adatoms, which bind at the bridge site of a C--C bond. Earlier studies have shown that the C adatoms have magnetic moments and have suggested the possibility of ferromagnetism with high Curie temperature. Here we propose to use a gate voltage to fine tune the magnetic moments from zero to 1$μ_B$ while changing the magnetic coupling from antiferromagnetism to ferromagnetism and again to antiferromagnetism. These results are rationalized within the Stoner and RKKY models. When the SCAN meta-GGA correction …
In this work a simple approach to transform MoS$_2$ from its metallic (1T' to semiconductor 2H) character via gold nanoparticle surface decoration of a MoS$_2$ graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite is proposed. The possible mechanism to this phase transformation was investigated using different spectroscopy techniques, and supported by density functional theory theoretical calculations. A mixture of the 1T'- and 2H-MoS2 phases was observed from the Raman and Mo 3d High Resolution X-ray photoelectron (HRXPS) spectra analysis in the MoS$_2$-rGO nanocomposite. After surface decoration with gold nano…
Since its inception in 2001, the science and technology of epitaxial graphene on hexagonal silicon carbide has matured into a major international effort and is poised to become the first carbon electronics platform. A historical perspective is presented and the unique electronic properties of single and multilayered epitaxial graphenes on electronics grade silicon carbide are reviewed. Early results on transport and the field effect in Si-face grown graphene monolayers provided proof-of-principle demonstrations. Besides monolayer epitaxial graphene, attention is given to C-face grown multilaye…
Previous studies of electron-phonon interaction in impure graphene have found that static disorder can give rise to an enhancement of electronic cooling. We investigate the effect of dynamic disorder and observe over an order of magnitude suppression of electronic cooling compared with clean graphene. The effect is stronger in graphene with more vacancies, confirming its vacancy-induced nature. The dependence of the coupling constant on the phonon temperature implies its link to the dynamics of disorder. Our study highlights the effect of disorder on electron-phonon interaction in graphene. In…
We report the direct observation of polarization resolved electronic Raman scattering in a gated monolayer graphene device. The evolution of the electronic Raman scattering spectra with gate voltage and its polarization dependence are in full agreement with theoretical expectations for non-resonant Raman processes involving interband electron-hole excitations across the Dirac cone. We further show that the spectral dependence of the electronic Raman scattering signal can be simply described by the dynamical polarizability of graphene in the long wavelength limit. The possibility to directly ob…
We study the charge and spin transport in a two terminal graphene nanoribbon (GNR) decorated with random Gold (Au) adatoms using a Kane-Mele model. Two commonly used GNRs, that is, the armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR) and the zigzag graphene nanoribbon (ZGNR) are compared and contrasted, which shows that in presence of Au adatoms, a somewhat robust $2e^2/h$ conductance plateau occurs in the case of AGNR around the zero of the Fermi energy, while in ZGNR this plateau is fragile. We show that this flat plateau, having a conductance value $2e^2/h$, is not a hallmark signature of a topologicall…
Electronic structures of graphene sheet with different defective patterns are investigated, based on the first principles calculations. We find that defective patterns can tune the electronic structures of the graphene significantly. Triangle patterns give rise to strongly localized states near the Fermi level, and hexagonal patterns open up band gaps in the systems. In addition, rectangular patterns, which feature networks of graphene nanoribbons with either zigzag or armchair edges, exhibit semiconducting behaviors, where the band gap has an evident dependence on the width of the nanoribbons…
Magnetotransport measurements on Hall bar devices fabricated on purely monolayer epitaxial graphene on Silicon Carbide (SiC/G) show a very tight spread in carrier concentration and mobility across wafer- size dimensions. In contrast, SiC/G devices containing bilayer graphene domains display variations in their electronic properties linked to the amount of bilayer content.
Novel materials with tunable magnetic states play a significant role in the development of next-generation spintronic devices. In this paper, we examine the role of biaxial strain on the electronic properties of vacancy-decorated hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayers using density functional theory calculations. We found that the strain can lead to switching of the magnetic state for h-BN monolayers with boron vacancy or divacancy. Our findings promise a new route for the operation of low-dimensional spintronic devices.
We theoretically demonstrate the capability of a ferromagnetic-normal (FN) interface in graphene to focus an electron-wave with a certain spin direction. The essential feature is the negative refraction Klein tunneling, which is spin-resolved when the exchange energy of F graphene exceeds its Fermi energy. Exploiting this property, we propose a graphene NFN electronic spin lens through which an unpolarized electronic beam can be collimated with a finite spin-polarization. Our study reveals that magnetic graphene has the potential to be the electronic counterpart of the recently discovered phot…
Electronic properties of two-dimensional allotropes of carbon, such as graphene and its bilayer, multi-layer epitaxial graphene, few-layer Bernal-stacked graphene, as well as of three-dimensional bulk graphite are reviewed from the viewpoint of recent optical spectroscopy studies. Attention is focused on relativistic-like character of quasi particles in these systems, which are referred to as massless or massive Dirac fermions.
Non-covalent functionalization via physisorption of organic molecules provides a scalable approach for modifying the electronic structure of graphene while preserving its excellent carrier mobilities. Here we investigated the physisorption of long-chain acenes, namely, hexacene and its fluorinated derivative perfluorohexacene, on bilayer graphene for tunable graphene devices using first principles methods. We find that the adsorption of these molecules leads to the formation of localized states in the electronic structure of graphene close to its Fermi level, which could be readily tuned by an…
The experimental control over the twist angle in twisted bilayer graphene has not been reported and its realistic structure is most likely incommensurate. In this paper, we develop a tight-binding virtual crystal approximation theory to study the electronic properties in incommensurate twisted bilayer graphene. The theory yields the electronic band structure and the local density of states for any incommensurate twist angle θ between the graphene sheets. Angle dependent Van Hove singularities are observed in the numerically calculated local density of states. In accord with observations in sca…
Graphene bilayer systems are known to exhibit a band gap when the layer symmetry is broken, by applying a perpendicular electric field. The resulting band structure resembles that of a conventional semiconductor with a parabolic dispersion. Here, we introduce a novel bilayer graphene heterostructure, where single-layer graphene is placed on top of another layer of graphene with a regular lattice of antidots. We dub this class of graphene systems GOAL: graphene on graphene antidot lattice. By varying the structure geometry, band structure engineering can be performed to obtain linearly dispersi…
We discuss the electronic properties of graphene and graphene nanoribbons including "pseudo-Rashba" spin-orbit coupling. After summarizing the bulk properties, we first analyze the scattering behavior close to an infinite mass and zigzag boundary. For low energies, we observe strong deviations from the usual spin-conserving behavior at high energies such as reflection acting as spin polarizer or switch. This results in a spin polarization along the direction of the boundary due to the appearance of evanescent modes in the case of non-equilibrium or when there is no coherence between the two on…
We investigate theoretically the transmission properties through a p-n-p junction on graphene. Here we show that the electronic transport property presents deep analogies with light propagation. It originates from the similarity between the linear spectrum of the Dirac fermions and photons that obey the Maxwell's equations. We demonstrate the p-n-p channel acts as a electronic fiber in which electrons propagate along the channel without dissipation.
We demonstrate that single layer graphene exhibits the electronic structure of a bilayer when it is connected to two gated bilayers. The energy gap characteristic for gated bilayer is induced in the single layer and it persists for distances separating the bilayers up to 20 nm. Most importantly, we report on the appearance of topologically protected gapless state localized in a single graphene layer when the distant bilayers differ in the stacking order. The one-dimensional current in the topological state flows in a single layer graphene, and this finding suggests a new exploitation of graphe…
In this paper we introduce a new structure similar to the graphane which we call it penta graphane. This structure is obtained by adding hydrogen to penta graphene bond. We study the electronic and phononic structure of penta graphane. We firstly use with the generalized gradient approximation to compute the band structure.
Based on reliable $ab\:initio$ computations and the numerical renormalization group method, systematic studies on a two-dimensional GaSe monolayer with a Co adatom have been carried out. It is shown that the stable lowest-energy configuration of the system involves the Co adatom located over Ga atom. For such configuration, it is demonstrated that the electronic and magnetic properties of the system can be effectively controlled by means of external factors, such as magnetic field, gate voltage or temperature. Moreover, if properly tuned, the GaSe-Co system can also exhibit the Kondo effect. T…
Novel materials are in great demand for future applications. The discovery of graphene, a one atom thick carbon layer, holds the promise for unique device architectures and functionalities exploiting unprecedented physical phenomena. The ability to embed graphene materials in a double gated structure allowed on-chip realization of relativistic tunneling experiments in single layer graphene, the discovery of a gate tunable band gap in bilayer graphene and of a gate tunable band overlap in trilayer graphene. Here we discuss recent advances in the physics and nanotechnology fabrication of double …
This review covers recent experimental progress in probing the electronic properties of graphene and how they are influenced by various substrates, by the presence of a magnetic field and by the proximity to a superconductor. The focus is on results obtained using scanning tunneling microscopy, spectroscopy, transport and magneto-transport techniques.
Electronic band gap and transport in quasi-periodic graphene superlattice of double-periodic sequence have been investigated. It is found that such quasi-periodic structure can possess a zero-averaged wave number (zero-$\bar{k}$) gap which associated with an unusual Dirac point. Different from Bragg gap, the zero-$\bar{k}$ gap is less sensitive to the incidence angle, and robust against the lattice constants. The locations of Dirac point and multi-Dirac-points in the graphene superlattices of various sequences are also compared. The control of electron transport over the zero-$\bar{k}$ band ga…
We present transfer-length-method measurements of the contact resistance between Cu and graphene, and a method to significantly reduce the contact resistance by vacuum annealing. Even in samples with heavily contaminated contacts, the contacts display very low contact resistance post annealing. Due to the common use of Cu, and it's low chemical reactivity with graphene, thermal annealing will be important for future graphene devices requiring non-perturbing contacts with low contact resistance.
Application of secondary quantized self-consistent Dirac -- Hartree -- Fock approach to consider electronic properties of monolayer graphene with accounting of spin-polarized states allows to coherently explain experimental results on energy band minigaps and charge carrier asymmetry in graphene, propose a description of valent and conduction zones shifts and gives a nice theoretical estimation of electron and holes cyclotron masses which is in very good agreement with known experimental data.
Adsorption of molecular oxygen on B-, N-, Al-, Si-, P-, Cr- and Mn-doped graphene is theoretically studied using density functional theory in order to clarify if O2 can change the possibility of using doped graphene for gas sensors, electronic and spintronic devices. O2 is physisorbed on B-, and Ndoped graphene with small adsorption energy and long distance from the graphene plane, indicating the oxidation will not happen; chemisorption is observed on Al-, Si-, P-, Cr- and Mn-doped graphene. The local curvature caused by the large bond length of X-C (X represents the dopants) relative to CC bo…
We theoretically investigate the electronic transport properties of curved graphene waveguides by employing non-equilibrium Green's function techniques. We systematically study the dependence of the confined waveguide modes on the potential difference, the width of waveguide and side barrier. Through two-terminal electronic transport calculations, we show that the conductance of confined waveguide modes is rather robust against the bending degree of waveguide, in consistent with the band insensitivity to the side barrier. This finding of the perfectly conducting channels strongly suggests the …
We combine {\em ab initio} density functional theory (DFT) structural studies with DFT-based nonequilibrium Green function calculations to investigate how the presence of non-hexagonal rings affects electronic transport in graphitic structures. We find that infinite monolayers, finite-width nanoribbons and nanotubes formed of 5-8 haeckelite with only 5- and 8-membered rings are generally more conductive than their graphene-based counterparts. Presence of haeckelite defect lines in the perfect graphitic structure, a model of grain boundaries in CVD-grown graphene, increases the electronic condu…
Magneto-Raman scattering experiments from the surface of graphite reveal novel features associated to purely electronic excitations which are observed in addition to phonon-mediated resonances. Graphene-like and graphite domains are identified through experiments with $\sim 1μm$ spatial resolution performed in magnetic fields up to 32T. Polarization resolved measurements emphasize the characteristic selection rules for electronic transitions in graphene. Graphene on graphite displays the unexpected hybridization between optical phonon and symmetric across the Dirac point inter Landau level tra…
