Intercalation of metal islands and films at the interface of epitaxially grown graphene and Ru(0001) surfaces

Li Huang*, Yi Pan, Lida Pan, Min Gao, Wenyan Xu, Yande Que, Haitao Zhou, Yeliang Wang, Shixuan Du, H. J. Gao

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

85 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report on intercalation of seven kinds of metals-Pt, Pd, Ni, Co, Au, In, and Ce-at the interface between an epitaxially grown graphene layer and a Ru(0001) substrate. Atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy images of perfect graphene lattice are obtained on top of these intercalated metals, showing that the high quality of the original graphene is, in the end, undisturbed by the intercalation. A model based theoretical calculation is proposed for the intercalation mechanism: metal atom-aided defect formation and self-healing of C-C bonds at high temperature. These intercalated materials include noble metals, magnetic metals, a IIIA group metal, and a rare earth metal, which indicates that intercalation through epitaxial graphene on Ru(0001) is a universal approach for metals.

Original languageEnglish
Article number163107
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume99
Issue number16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Oct 2011
Externally publishedYes

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