Issue 13, 2021

Morphological characterization and electronic properties of pristine and oxygen-exposed graphene nanoribbons on Ag(110)

Abstract

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are at the frontier of research on graphene materials since the 1D quantum confinement of electrons allows for the opening of an energy gap. GNRs of uniform and well-defined size and shape can be grown using the bottom-up approach, i.e. by surface assisted polymerization of aromatic hydrocarbons. Since the electronic properties of the nanostructures depend on their width and on their edge states, by careful choice of the precursor molecule it is possible to design GNRs with tailored properties. A key issue for their application in nanoelectronics is their stability under operative conditions. Here, we characterize pristine and oxygen-exposed 1.0 nm wide GNRs with a well-defined mixed edge-site sequence (two zig-zag and one armchair) synthesized on Ag(110) from 1,6-dibromo-pyrene precursors. The energy gap and the presence of quantum confined states are investigated by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. The effect of oxygen exposure under ultra-high vacuum conditions is inferred from scanning tunneling microscopy images and photoemission spectra. Our results demonstrate that oxygen exposure deeply affects the overall system by interacting both with the nanoribbons and with the substrate; this factor must be considered for supported GNRs under operative conditions.

Graphical abstract: Morphological characterization and electronic properties of pristine and oxygen-exposed graphene nanoribbons on Ag(110)

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 jul 2020
Accepted
21 dez 2020
First published
21 dez 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2021,23, 7926-7937

Morphological characterization and electronic properties of pristine and oxygen-exposed graphene nanoribbons on Ag(110)

J. E. Barcelon, M. Smerieri, G. Carraro, P. Wojciechowski, L. Vattuone, M. Rocca, S. Nappini, I. Píš, E. Magnano, F. Bondino, L. Vaghi, A. Papagni and L. Savio, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2021, 23, 7926 DOI: 10.1039/D0CP04051G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements