From graphene constrictions to single carbon chains

By A. Chuvilin, Jannik C. Meyer, G. Algara-Siller, U. Kaiser. 2009

307 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present an atomic-resolution observation and analysis of graphene constrictions and ribbons with sub-nanometer width. Graphene membranes are studied by imaging side spherical aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy at 80 kV. Holes are formed in the honeycomb-like structure due to radiation damage. As the holes grow and two holes approach each other, the hexagonal structure that lies between them narrows down. Transitions and deviations from the hexagonal structure in this graphene ribbon occur as its width shrinks below one nanometer. Some reconstructions, involving more pentagons and heptagons than hexagons, turn out to be surprisingly stable. Finally, single carbon atom chain bridges between graphene contacts are observed. The dynamics are observed in real time at atomic resolution with enough sensitivity to detect every carbon atom that remains stable for a sufficient amount of time. The carbon chains appear reproducibly and in various configurations from graphene bridges, between adsorbates, or at open edges and seem to represent one of the most stable configurations that a few atomic carbon system accommodates in the presence of continuous energy input from the electron beam.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Materials Chemistry, Structural Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0daeb1ccc47b70bf007c18a38a6a0ed92dab6570

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In Electrical and Electronic Engineering

In Materials Chemistry

Citations in the corpus

Fracture of graphene: a review (2015, background): “gle atom carbon chains have been observed under the high energy (larger than 80 keV) electron beam irradiation (Chuvilin et al. 2009; Jin et al. 2009).”