Unveiling carbon dimers and their chains as precursor of graphene growth on Ru(0001)

Min Gao; Yan Fang Zhang; Li Huang; Yi Pan; Yeliang Wang; Feng Ding; Yuan Lin; Shi Xuan Du; Hong Jun Gao

doi:10.1063/1.4963283

Unveiling carbon dimers and their chains as precursor of graphene growth on Ru(0001)

Min Gao, Yan Fang Zhang, Li Huang, Yi Pan, Yeliang Wang^*, Feng Ding, Yuan Lin, Shi Xuan Du, Hong Jun Gao

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Carbon precursor that forms on the catalyst surface by the dissociation of feedstock gas plays an important role in the controllable growth of graphene on metal substrates. However, the configuration about the precursor has so far remained elusive. Here, we report the direct observation of uniformly structured precursor units and their chain formation at the nucleation stage of graphene growing on Ru(0001) substrate by using scanning tunneling microscopy. Combining this experimental information with density function theory calculations, the atomic-resolved structures of carbon precursor are characterized as adsorbed CH₂ segments on the substrate. The dissociated carbon feedstock molecules or radicals further react to form nonplanar -[C₂H₄]- chains adsorbed on hexagonal-close-packed hollow sites of the Ru(0001) substrate before incorporating into the graphene island. These findings reveal that CH₂ and nonplanar -[C₂H₄]- segments act as precursors in graphene growth and are helpful to improve the quality and the domain size of desired graphene by precursor or feedstock control.

Original language	English
Article number	131604
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	109
Issue number	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4963283
Publication status	Published - 26 Sept 2016
Externally published	Yes

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title = "Unveiling carbon dimers and their chains as precursor of graphene growth on Ru(0001)",

abstract = "Carbon precursor that forms on the catalyst surface by the dissociation of feedstock gas plays an important role in the controllable growth of graphene on metal substrates. However, the configuration about the precursor has so far remained elusive. Here, we report the direct observation of uniformly structured precursor units and their chain formation at the nucleation stage of graphene growing on Ru(0001) substrate by using scanning tunneling microscopy. Combining this experimental information with density function theory calculations, the atomic-resolved structures of carbon precursor are characterized as adsorbed CH2 segments on the substrate. The dissociated carbon feedstock molecules or radicals further react to form nonplanar -[C2H4]- chains adsorbed on hexagonal-close-packed hollow sites of the Ru(0001) substrate before incorporating into the graphene island. These findings reveal that CH2 and nonplanar -[C2H4]- segments act as precursors in graphene growth and are helpful to improve the quality and the domain size of desired graphene by precursor or feedstock control.",

author = "Min Gao and Zhang, {Yan Fang} and Li Huang and Yi Pan and Yeliang Wang and Feng Ding and Yuan Lin and Du, {Shi Xuan} and Gao, {Hong Jun}",

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T1 - Unveiling carbon dimers and their chains as precursor of graphene growth on Ru(0001)

AU - Gao, Min

AU - Zhang, Yan Fang

AU - Huang, Li

AU - Pan, Yi

AU - Wang, Yeliang

AU - Ding, Feng

AU - Lin, Yuan

AU - Du, Shi Xuan

AU - Gao, Hong Jun

PY - 2016/9/26

Y1 - 2016/9/26

N2 - Carbon precursor that forms on the catalyst surface by the dissociation of feedstock gas plays an important role in the controllable growth of graphene on metal substrates. However, the configuration about the precursor has so far remained elusive. Here, we report the direct observation of uniformly structured precursor units and their chain formation at the nucleation stage of graphene growing on Ru(0001) substrate by using scanning tunneling microscopy. Combining this experimental information with density function theory calculations, the atomic-resolved structures of carbon precursor are characterized as adsorbed CH2 segments on the substrate. The dissociated carbon feedstock molecules or radicals further react to form nonplanar -[C2H4]- chains adsorbed on hexagonal-close-packed hollow sites of the Ru(0001) substrate before incorporating into the graphene island. These findings reveal that CH2 and nonplanar -[C2H4]- segments act as precursors in graphene growth and are helpful to improve the quality and the domain size of desired graphene by precursor or feedstock control.

AB - Carbon precursor that forms on the catalyst surface by the dissociation of feedstock gas plays an important role in the controllable growth of graphene on metal substrates. However, the configuration about the precursor has so far remained elusive. Here, we report the direct observation of uniformly structured precursor units and their chain formation at the nucleation stage of graphene growing on Ru(0001) substrate by using scanning tunneling microscopy. Combining this experimental information with density function theory calculations, the atomic-resolved structures of carbon precursor are characterized as adsorbed CH2 segments on the substrate. The dissociated carbon feedstock molecules or radicals further react to form nonplanar -[C2H4]- chains adsorbed on hexagonal-close-packed hollow sites of the Ru(0001) substrate before incorporating into the graphene island. These findings reveal that CH2 and nonplanar -[C2H4]- segments act as precursors in graphene growth and are helpful to improve the quality and the domain size of desired graphene by precursor or feedstock control.

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Unveiling carbon dimers and their chains as precursor of graphene growth on Ru(0001)

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