Adsorbate-induced curvature and stiffening of graphene

Svatek, Simon A.; Scott, Oliver R.; Rivett, Jasmine P.H.; Wright, Katherine; Baldoni, Matteo; Bichoutskaia, Elena; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; Marsden, Alexander J.; Wilson, Neil R.; Beton, Peter H.

Abstract

The adsorption of the alkane tetratetracontane (TTC, C44H90) on graphene induces the formation of a curved surface stabilized by a gain in adsorption energy. This effect arises from a curvature-dependent variation of a moiré pattern due to the mismatch of the carbon−carbon separation in the adsorbed molecule and the period of graphene. The effect is observed when graphene is transferred onto a deformable substrate, which in our case is the interface between water layers adsorbed on mica and an organic solvent, but is not observed on more rigid substrates such as boron nitride. Our results show that molecular adsorption can be influenced by substrate curvature, provide an example of two-dimensional molecular self-assembly on a soft, responsive interface, and demonstrate that the mechanical properties of graphene may be modified by molecular adsorption, which is of relevance to nanomechanical systems, electronics, and membrane technology.

Citation

Svatek, S. A., Scott, O. R., Rivett, J. P., Wright, K., Baldoni, M., Bichoutskaia, E., Taniguchi, T., Watanabe, K., Marsden, A. J., Wilson, N. R., & Beton, P. H. (2015). Adsorbate-induced curvature and stiffening of graphene. Nano Letters, 15(1), https://doi.org/10.1021/nl503308c

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 3, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Dec 3, 2014
• Publication Date: Jan 5, 2015
• Deposit Date: Feb 15, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 15, 2016
• Journal: Nano Letters
• Print ISSN: 1530-6984
• Electronic ISSN: 1530-6992
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/nl503308c
• Keywords: graphene, water, mica, STM, alkanes
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/743798
• Publisher URL: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl503308c
• Additional Information: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Nano Letters, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. ; To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl503308c
• Contract Date: Feb 15, 2016