Issue 38, 2020

Vibrational signature of the graphene nanoribbon edge structure from high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy

Abstract

Bottom-up approaches exploiting on-surface synthesis reactions allow atomic-scale precision in the fabrication of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs); this is essential for their technological applications since their unique electronic and optical properties are largely controlled by the specific edge structure. By means of a combined experimental-theoretical investigation of some prototype GNRs, we show here that high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy (HREELS) can be successfully employed to fingerprint the details of the GNR edge structure. In particular, we demonstrate how the features of HREEL vibrational spectra – mainly dictated by edge CH out-of-plane modes – are unambiguously related to the GNR edge structure. Moreover, we single out those modes which are localized at the GNR termini and show how their relative intensity can be related to the average GNR length.

Graphical abstract: Vibrational signature of the graphene nanoribbon edge structure from high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 avq 2020
Accepted
24 avq 2020
First published
07 sen 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale, 2020,12, 19681-19688

Vibrational signature of the graphene nanoribbon edge structure from high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy

N. Cavani, M. De Corato, A. Ruini, D. Prezzi, E. Molinari, A. Lodi Rizzini, A. Rosi, R. Biagi, V. Corradini, X. Wang, X. Feng, A. Narita, K. Müllen and V. De Renzi, Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 19681 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR05763K

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