Unzipping Carbon Nanotubes to Sub-5-nm Graphene Nanoribbons on Cu(111) by Surface Catalysis

Wenjie Dong; Xin Li; Shuai Lu; Jie Li; Yansong Wang; Mingjun Zhong; Xu Dong; Zhen Xu; Qian Shen; Song Gao; Kai Wu; Lian-Mao Peng; Shimin Hou; Zhiyong Zhang; Yajie Zhang; Yongfeng Wang

doi:10.1002/smll.202308430

Unzipping Carbon Nanotubes to Sub-5-nm Graphene Nanoribbons on Cu(111) by Surface Catalysis

Small. 2023 Dec 21:e2308430. doi: 10.1002/smll.202308430. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Wenjie Dong¹, Xin Li¹, Shuai Lu¹, Jie Li¹, Yansong Wang¹, Mingjun Zhong¹, Xu Dong², Zhen Xu², Qian Shen³, Song Gao², Kai Wu⁴, Lian-Mao Peng¹, Shimin Hou¹, Zhiyong Zhang¹, Yajie Zhang¹, Yongfeng Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Carbon-based Electronics and Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, School of Electronics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
² Institute of Spin Science and Technology, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 511442, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China.
⁴ BNLMS, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.

PMID: 38126626
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202308430

Abstract

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are promising in nanoelectronics for their quasi-1D structures with tunable bandgaps. The methods for controllable fabrication of high-quality GNRs are still limited. Here a way to generate sub-5-nm GNRs by annealing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on Cu(111) is demonstrated. The structural evolution process is characterized by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Substrate-dependent measurements on Au(111) and Ru(0001) reveal that the intermediate strong SWCNT-surface interaction plays a pivotal role in the formation of GNRs.

Keywords: annealing; carbon nanotubes; graphene nanoribbons; scanning tunneling microscopy.

Abstract

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