Abstract
Doping graphene with boron has been difficult because of high reaction barriers. Here, we describe a low-energy reaction route derived from first-principles calculations and validated by experiments. We find that a boron atom on graphene on a ruthenium(0001) substrate can replace a carbon by pushing it through, with substrate attraction helping to reduce the barrier to only 0.1 eV, implying that the doping can take place at room temperature. High-quality graphene is grown on a Ru(0001) surface and exposed to B2H6. Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that boron is indeed incorporated substitutionally without disturbing the graphene lattice.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 6464-6468 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Nano Letters |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 14 Oct 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- boron-doped graphene
- first-principles calculations
- scanning tunneling microscopy
- scanning tunneling spectroscopy