Issue 78, 2016

Graphene layers on bimetallic Ni/Cu(111) surface and near surface alloys in controlled growth of graphene

Abstract

Bimetallic alloy is more effective than pure metal for controlled growth of high-quality graphene. In this work, we used the DFT-D2 method to study interfacial structure, interaction between graphene layers and bimetallic Ni/Cu(111) surface and near-surface alloys (SAs, NSAs). The results show that the bimetallic Ni/Cu(111) SAs and NSAs have a larger surface relaxation and charge transfer at the interface. The Ni/Cu(111) SAs/NSAs with a Cu-surface layer are energetically more favorable than that with a Ni-surface layer. However, the Ni-surface layer of the Ni/Cu(111) SAs/NSAs has more charge accumulation and higher chemical activity than the Cu-surface layer of the Ni/Cu(111) SAs/NSAs. More importantly, the interaction strength of graphene–metal can be distinctly tuned by surface alloying, while it has only a minor change by subsurface alloying. The initially weak interfacial interaction of graphene/Cu(111) could be enhanced substantially by Ni surface introduction. Accordingly, the interface distance was decreased from ∼3.0 Å to ∼2.1 Å, and there is a strong charge transfer from the Ni-surface layer to the graphene bottom layer. In contrast, the initially strong interfacial interaction of graphene/Ni(111) could be reduced successfully by Cu surface introduction. The interface distance was increased from ∼2.1 Å to ∼3.0 Å, and there is only a minor electronic polarization at the interface between graphene and Ni(111)–Ni–Cu SA. Furthermore, the graphene bottom layer on the Ni-surface layer of the Ni/Cu(111) SA/NSAs has higher chemical activity than that on the Cu-surface layer of the Ni/Cu(111) SA/NSAs. These findings provide a useful guide for designing alloy catalysts and achieving controlled growth of graphene.

Graphical abstract: Graphene layers on bimetallic Ni/Cu(111) surface and near surface alloys in controlled growth of graphene

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Jun 2016
Accepted
30 Jul 2016
First published
01 Aug 2016

RSC Adv., 2016,6, 74973-74981

Author version available

Graphene layers on bimetallic Ni/Cu(111) surface and near surface alloys in controlled growth of graphene

X. Bian, Q. Wang, X. Wang, L. Wang, W. Li, G. Chen and H. Zhu, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 74973 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA14315F

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