Novel silicon nanostructures based on graphene ribbons

Abstract

In this paper，we have studied formation processes of silicon nanostructures on edges of graphene ribbons by molecular dynamics simulation.We found that，Si atoms in a gas state can be absorbed on the edges of zigzag graphene ribbons，forming different types of silicon nanostructures under different temperature T，namely，amorphous clusters，chain structures and defective chain structures in the intervals 300K≤TT≤2800K and 2800KTT≥3900K，carbon atoms on the edges of graphene ribbons are gradually replaced by Si atoms.For the graphene ribbons with armchair edges，existence of multiple adsorption sites does not allow growth of chain-like Si nanostructures.