Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 71: Graphene - Preparation and Characterization 2 (jointly with DS, HL, MA, and O)
TT 71.4: Talk
Friday, March 15, 2013, 11:15–11:30, H17
Etching Nanoscale tunnels into graphite- a new route to produce suspended graphene — •Maya Lukas1, Velimir Meded1, Aravind Vijayaraghavan1,2, Li Song3,4, Pulickel M. Ajayan4, Karin Fink1, Wolfgang Wenzel1, and Ralph Krupke1,5 — 1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Nanotechnology, D-76021 Karlsruhe — 2School of Computer Science, The University of Manchester, UK — 3Research Center for Exotic Nanocarbons, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan — 4Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Rice University, Houston, TX , USA — 5Department of Materials and Earth Sciences, Technische Universität Darmstadt, D-64287 Darmstadt
Catalytic hydrogenation of graphite, although known since the 1970s, has recently attracted renewed attention, as a route for nano-patterning of graphene and to produce graphene nano-ribbons. These reports show that metallic nanoparticles etch surface layers of graphite or graphene anisotropically along the crystallographic zigzag <11-20> or armchair <1010> directions.
We report the sub-surface etching of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) by Ni nanoparticles, to form a network of tunnels, as seen by SEM and STM. The layers on top of tunnels which are only a few layers below the surface bend inward, while their local density of states remains fundamentally unchanged. Our work opens a new route to produce suspended graphene for the study of fundamental mechanical and electronic properties. M. Lukas, V. Meded et al., Nat. Commun. accepted for publication