2013/10/23 by J. Hopster, Hopster, J., R. Kozubek +12
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Graphene research and applications #Ion-surface interactions and analysis #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Polymer Nanocomposite Synthesis and Irradiation #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1310.6233
arxiv created 2013/10/23 · openalex publication_date 2013/10/23 · arxiv updated 2013/10/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Graphene is expected to be rather insensitive to ionizing particle radiation. We demonstrate that single layers of exfoliated graphene sustain significant damage from irradiation with slow highly charged ions. We have investigated the ion induced changes of graphene after irradiation with highly charged ions of different charge states (q = 28-42) and kinetic energies Ekin = 150-450 keV. Atomic force microscopy images reveal that the ion induced defects are not topographic in nature but are related to a significant change in friction. To create these defects, a minimum charge state is needed. In addition to this threshold behaviour, the required minimum charge state as well as the defect diameter show a strong dependency on the kinetic energy of the projectiles. From the linear dependency of the defect diameter on the projectile velocity we infer that electronic excitations triggered by the incoming ion in the above-surface phase play a dominant role for this unexpected defect creation in graphene.