High-density nanoporous graphene created by proton-irradiation

Abstract

Monolayer graphene deposited on Cu foil were irradiated by proton beam and the irradiation effects were investigated. The results indicated that proton can create nanopores with sizes of 5–80 nm in graphene. It was also found that beam current is the most dominating factor affecting irradiation effect instead of the kinetic energy and fluence of ions. Increasing the proton beam current results in larger pore sizes and higher density of pore-type defects due to the inhibition of the self-healing of vacancies.