In situ observation of step-edge in-plane growth of graphene in a STEM

Zheng Liu; Yung Chang Lin; Chun Chieh Lu; Chao Hui Yeh; Po Wen Chiu; Sumio Iijima; Kazu Suenaga

doi:10.1038/ncomms5055

In situ observation of step-edge in-plane growth of graphene in a STEM

Zheng Liu^*, Yung Chang Lin, Chun Chieh Lu, Chao Hui Yeh, Po Wen Chiu, Sumio Iijima, Kazu Suenaga

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

61 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

It is extremely difficult to control the growth orientation of the graphene layer in comparison to Si or III-V semiconductors. Here we report a direct observation of graphene growth and domain boundary formation in a scanning transmission electron microscope, with residual hydrocarbon in the microscope chamber being used as the carbon source for in-plane graphene growth at the step-edge of bilayer graphene substrate. We show that the orientation of the growth is strongly influenced by the step-edge structure and areas grown from a reconstructed 5-7 edge are rotated by 30° with respect to the mother layer. Furthermore, single heteroatoms like Si may act as catalytic active sites for the step-edge growth. The findings provide an insight into the mechanism of graphene growth and defect reconstruction that can be used to tailor carbon nanostructures with desired properties.

Original language	English
Article number	4055
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5055
Publication status	Published - Jun 2 2014
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy

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abstract = "It is extremely difficult to control the growth orientation of the graphene layer in comparison to Si or III-V semiconductors. Here we report a direct observation of graphene growth and domain boundary formation in a scanning transmission electron microscope, with residual hydrocarbon in the microscope chamber being used as the carbon source for in-plane graphene growth at the step-edge of bilayer graphene substrate. We show that the orientation of the growth is strongly influenced by the step-edge structure and areas grown from a reconstructed 5-7 edge are rotated by 30° with respect to the mother layer. Furthermore, single heteroatoms like Si may act as catalytic active sites for the step-edge growth. The findings provide an insight into the mechanism of graphene growth and defect reconstruction that can be used to tailor carbon nanostructures with desired properties.",

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AU - Liu, Zheng

AU - Lin, Yung Chang

AU - Lu, Chun Chieh

AU - Yeh, Chao Hui

AU - Chiu, Po Wen

AU - Iijima, Sumio

AU - Suenaga, Kazu

PY - 2014/6/2

Y1 - 2014/6/2

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AB - It is extremely difficult to control the growth orientation of the graphene layer in comparison to Si or III-V semiconductors. Here we report a direct observation of graphene growth and domain boundary formation in a scanning transmission electron microscope, with residual hydrocarbon in the microscope chamber being used as the carbon source for in-plane graphene growth at the step-edge of bilayer graphene substrate. We show that the orientation of the growth is strongly influenced by the step-edge structure and areas grown from a reconstructed 5-7 edge are rotated by 30° with respect to the mother layer. Furthermore, single heteroatoms like Si may act as catalytic active sites for the step-edge growth. The findings provide an insight into the mechanism of graphene growth and defect reconstruction that can be used to tailor carbon nanostructures with desired properties.

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In situ observation of step-edge in-plane growth of graphene in a STEM

Abstract

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