The formation mechanism of multiple vacancies and amorphous graphene under electron irradiation

Ruiqi Zhao; Jianing Zhuang; Zilin Liang; Tianying Yan; Feng Ding

doi:10.1039/C5NR00552C

The formation mechanism of multiple vacancies and amorphous graphene under electron irradiation

Ruiqi Zhao,^a Jianing Zhuang,^b Zilin Liang,^b^c Tianying Yan*^c and Feng Ding*^b

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* Corresponding authors

^a School of Physics and Chemistry, Henan Polytechnic University, Henan 454003, China

^b Institute of Textiles and Clothing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, China
E-mail: feng.ding@polyu.edu.hk

^c Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Synergetic Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Metal and Molecule Based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
E-mail: tyan@nankai.edu.cn

Abstract

The evolution of multiple vacancies (V_ns) in graphene under electron irradiation (EI) was explored systematically by long time non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, with n varying from 4 to 40. The simulations showed that the V_ns form haeckelites in the case with small n, while forming holes as n increases. The scale of the haeckelites, characterized by the number of pentagon–heptagon pairs, grows linearly with n. Such a linear relationship can be interpreted as a consequence of compensating the missing area, caused by the V_ns, in order to maintain the area of the perfect sp² network by self-healing. Beyond that, the scale of the haeckelite vs. the density of missing atoms is predicted to be S_h ∼ 6D_n, where S_h and D_n are the percentage of non-hexagonal rings and missing atoms, respectively. This study provides an intuitive picture of the formation of amorphous graphene under EI and the quantitative understanding of the mechanism.

Supplementary files

Publication details

The article was received on 24 Jan 2015, accepted on 31 Mar 2015 and first published on 02 Apr 2015

Article type: Communication

DOI: 10.1039/C5NR00552C

Citation: Nanoscale, 2015,7, 8315-8320

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The formation mechanism of multiple vacancies and amorphous graphene under electron irradiation

R. Zhao, J. Zhuang, Z. Liang, T. Yan and F. Ding, Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 8315
DOI: 10.1039/C5NR00552C
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Nanoscale

The formation mechanism of multiple vacancies and amorphous graphene under electron irradiation

Abstract

Supplementary files

Publication details

The formation mechanism of multiple vacancies and amorphous graphene under electron irradiation

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