Abstract
Atomic force microscopy is shown to be an excellent lithographic technique to directly deposit nanoparticles on graphene by capillary transport without any previous functionalization of neither the nanoparticles nor the graphene surface while preserving its integrity and conductivity properties. Moreover this technique allows for (sub)micrometric control on the positioning thanks to a new three-step protocol that has been designed with this aim. With this methodology the exact target coordinates are registered by scanning the tip over the predetermined area previous to its coating with the ink and deposition. As a proof-of-concept, this strategy has successfully allowed the controlled deposition of few nanoparticles on 1 μm(2) preselected sites of a graphene surface with high accuracy.
Highlights
Since its discovery in 2004,1 graphene has raised much attention due to its interesting electrical, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties.[2−5] Graphene exhibits a high Young’s modulus and fracture strength with potential applications in reinforced composites.[6]
We demonstrate that direct-write atomic force microscopy (AFM) lithography represents an excellent approach to this aim
The cobalt nanoparticles (Co-NPs) were dispersed in organic media at 2 × 1015 NPs mL−1 and the solution used as base ink for the deposition experiments on bare Si/SiO2 substrates by using single pen (SP) tips
Summary
Since its discovery in 2004,1 graphene has raised much attention due to its interesting electrical, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties.[2−5] Graphene exhibits a high Young’s modulus and fracture strength with potential applications in reinforced composites.[6]. The optical and electrical properties of graphene can be tailored by the site-specific patterning of Au NPs decorated with cinnamate moieties covalently cross-linked by UV irradiation.[21] these studies were successful on structuring materials on graphene with control on feature thickness and size, the ability to accurately control the positioning of these structures on preselected sites of a graphene surface by a mild method still remains a challenge. If successful, this will open new perspectives mainly for device and sensing applications, where objects need to be placed with high precision onto well-defined sensing regions of the device.[22]
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