Single atoms and metal nanoclusters anchored to graphene vacancies

Autor(en)

Alberto Trentino, Georg Zagler, Manuel Längle, Jacob Madsen, Toma Susi, Clemens Mangler, E. Harriet Åhlgren, Kimmo Mustonen, Jani Kotakoski

Abstrakt

Fabricating dispersed single atoms and size-controlled metal nanoclusters remains a difficult challenge due to sintering. Here, we demonstrate that atoms and clusters can be immobilized using atomically clean defect-engineered graphene as the matrix. The graphene is first cleaned of surface contamination with laser heating, after which low-energy Ar irradiation is used to create spatially well-separated vacancies into it. Metal atoms are then evaporated either via thermal or ebeam evaporation onto graphene, where they diffuse until being trapped into a vacancy. The density of embedded structures can be controlled through irradiation dose, and the size of the structures through evaporation time. The resulting structures are confirmed through atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy. We demonstrate here incorporation of Al, Ti, Fe, Ag and Au single atoms or nanoclusters, but the method should work equally well for other elements.

Organisation(en)

Physik Nanostrukturierter Materialien

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Helsinki

Journal

Micron

Band

184

Anzahl der Seiten

7

ISSN

0968-4328

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micron.2024.103667

Publikationsdatum

09-2024

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

210004 Nanomaterialien, 103042 Elektronenmikroskopie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Structural Biology, Cell Biology

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/2607d93f-ab91-4d98-90de-ee5258e418ff