Few-layer Graphene Surface Research Articles

Motion of Light Adatoms and Molecules on the Surface of Few-Layer Graphene

Low-voltage aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is applied to investigate the feasibility of continuous electron beam cleaning of graphene and monitor the removal of residual species as present on few-layer graphene (FLG) surfaces. This combined approach allows us to detect light adatoms and evaluate their discontinuous sporadic motional behavior. Furthermore, the formation and dynamic behavior of isolated molecules on the FLG surface can be captured. The preferential source of adatoms and adsorbed molecules appeared to be carbonaceous clusters accumulated from residual solvents on the graphene surface. TEM image simulations provide potential detail on the observed molecular structures. Molecular dynamics simulations confirm the experimentally observed dynamics occurring on the energy scale imposed by the presence of the 80 kV electron beam and help elucidate the underlying mechanisms.

Number of graphene layers exhibiting an influence on oxidation of DNA bases: Analytical parameters

This article investigates the analytical performance of double-, few- and multi-layer graphene upon oxidation of adenine and guanine. We observed that the sensitivity of differential pulse voltammetric response of guanine and adenine is significantly higher at few-layer graphene surface than single-layer graphene. We use glassy carbon electrode as substrate coated with graphenes. Our findings shall have profound influence on construction of graphene based genosensors.

Self-assembly of CuSO4 nanoparticles and bending multi-wall carbon nanotubes on few-layer graphene surfaces

When a colloidal suspension is allowed to wet a suitable substrate, various patterns emerge that can be varied from isolated island-like structures to fractal patterns. In this work we investigate the patterns arising from the interplay of colloidal copper sulfate suspensions containing carbon nanotubes with few-layer graphene substrates. The compositions of the thin film samples were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, surface topography and the nanostructure of the thin films were probed with atomic force microscope and transmission electron microscope respectively. The colloidal suspensions were characterized using contact angle and viscosity measurements. The colloidal suspensions when dip coated on few-layer graphene substrates exhibited fractal like morphology with the aggregation of copper sulfate crystallites to hexagonal platelets. This aggregation is explained invoking the depletion attraction theory. The various patterns observed experimentally were reproduced using a Monte Carlo simulation.

Nanobubbles stability and multiwall carbon nanotubes straightening on few-layer graphene surfaces

The formation of nanobubbles, straightening, and orientation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are investigated by preparing thin films employing dip casting of colloidal solutions on few-layer graphene (FLG) surfaces. In contrast to what is known, it is observed that nanobubbles are formed on an ultrathin dewetted layer of 0.5 nm thickness and exhibit unusual stability at ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Further, nanobubble rings are observed at atmospheric pressure. The results provide direct experimental evidence of the interaction between MWCNTs and nanobubbles at air–liquid–solid triple contact line and at lower step edge of the FLG, which together lead to the alignment of MWCNTs. Due to the balance between the surface tension forces and the strain forces arising from tube bending, MWCNTs attained straight rod-like shape. This enabled us to evaluate the elastic modulus of the MWCNT as E = 0.9 TPa.

Crystallographically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes Grown on Few-Layer Graphene Films

Carbon nanotubes are grown on few-layer graphene films using chemical vapor deposition without a carbon feedstock gas. We find that the nanotubes show a striking alignment to specific crystal orientations of the few-layer graphene films. The nanotubes are oriented predominantly at 60 degree intervals and are offset 30 degrees from crystallographically oriented etch tracks, indicating alignment to the armchair axes of the few-layer graphene films. Nanotubes grown on various thicknesses of few-layer graphene under identical process conditions show that the thinnest films, in the sub-6 atomic layer regime, demonstrate significantly improved crystallographic alignment. Intricate crystallographic patterns are also observed having sharp kinks with bending radii less than the ∼10 nm lateral resolution of the electron and atomic force microscopy used to image them. Some of these kinks occur independently without interactions between nanotubes while others result when two nanotubes intersect. These intersections can trap nanotubes between two parallel nanotubes resulting in crystallographic back and forth zigzag geometries. These interactions suggest a tip-growth mechanism such that the catalyst particles remain within several nanometers of the few-layer graphene surface as they move leaving a nanotube in their wake.

Metal−Graphene Interaction Studied via Atomic Resolution Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy

Distributions and atomic sites of transition metals and gold on suspended graphene were investigated via high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, especially using atomic resolution high angle dark field imaging. All metals, albeit as singular atoms or atom aggregates, reside in the omni-present hydrocarbon surface contamination; they do not form continuous films, but clusters or nanocrystals. No interaction was found between Au atoms and clean single-layer graphene surfaces, i.e., no Au atoms are retained on such surfaces. Au and also Fe atoms do, however, bond to clean few-layer graphene surfaces, where they assume T and B sites, respectively. Cr atoms were found to interact more strongly with clean monolayer graphene, they are possibly incorporated at graphene lattice imperfections and have been observed to catalyze dissociation of C-C bonds. This behavior might explain the observed high frequency of Cr-cluster nucleation, and the usefulness as wetting layer, for depositing electrical contacts on graphene.

‘Graphene-on-insulator’ fabricated on atomically controlled solid surfaces

Graphene or few layer graphene (FLG) was attached on a single-crystalline sapphire surface on which a regularly ordered step/terrace structure was formed. The height of graphene from the substrate surface was observed to be about 0.35 nm, which is almost equal to the layer spacing of graphite. On the attached graphene or FLG surface, the step/terrace structure originating from the sapphire surface was clearly observed because the graphene flake tightly adhered to the sapphire surface. FLGs were etched by a reaction between carbon of the FLG and H2 gas at 900 °C using Fe nanoparticles as catalysts. When a FLG flake is thick, the etching direction is subject to the crystallographic directions of graphene. As the FLG is thinner than 6 nm, strain induced on the FLG surface by the step/terrace structure of the substrate surface influences the etching direction, and etching along a buried step occurs when the Fe nanoparticle size is small. The etching directions of FLG can be controlled by the ordered atomic step arrangement on sapphire surfaces owing to the surface flatness and tight adhesion of graphene to the surface.

Surface Potentials and Layer Charge Distributions in Few-Layer Graphene Films

Graphene-derived nanomaterials are emerging as ideal candidates for postsilicon electronics. Elucidating the electronic interaction between an insulating substrate and few-layer graphene (FLG) films is crucial for device applications. Here, we report electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) measurements revealing that the FLG surface potential increases with film thickness, approaching a "bulk" value for samples with five or more graphene layers. This behavior is in sharp contrast with that expected for conventional conducting or semiconducting films, and derives from unique aspects of charge screening by graphene's relativistic low energy carriers. EFM measurements resolve previously unseen electronic perturbations extended along crystallographic directions of structurally disordered FLGs, likely resulting from long-range atomic defects. These results have important implications for graphene nanoelectronics and provide a powerful framework by which key properties can be further investigated.