2016/12/31 by Steven J. Tjung, Tjung, S. J., Shawna Hollen +9
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Graphene research and applications #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Quantum and electron transport phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1701.00149
openalex publication_date 2016/12/31 · openalex created_date 2017/06/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We have developed a novel method for crystalline hydrogenation of graphene on the nanoscale. Molecular hydrogen was physisorbed at 5 K onto pristine graphene islands grown on Cu(111) in ultrahigh vacuum. Field emission local to the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope dissociates H2 and results in hydrogenated graphene. At lower coverage, isolated point defects are found on the graphene and are attributed to chemisorbed H on top and bottom surfaces. Repeated H2 exposure and field emission yielded patches and then complete coverage of a crystalline √(3) × √(3) R30° phase, as well as less densely packed 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 structures. The hydrogenation can be reversed by imaging with higher bias voltage.