Selective adsorption of Dy on intercalated epitaxial graphene

ORAL

Abstract

Manipulation of metal deposition and growth morphology on graphene is essential for promising applications of graphene, e.g., magnetic nanoislands for computer memory and stable nanoparticles for catalytic activity. In this study, we present an effective method to control the adsorption and nucleation property of metal ions on graphene via metal intercalation. We experimentally demonstrate that Dy adatoms show highly selective adsorption behavior on Dy-intercalated epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) by scanning tunnelling microscopy. This adsorption selectivity is theoretically explained by comparing adsorption energies on graphene regions with different intercalation configurations using first-principles methods based on density functional theory. Our results show that the metal intercalation can be an effective way for the functional manipulation of graphene and enlarge the scope of graphene application.

*This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering. The research was performed at Ames laboratory which is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11358.

Presenters

  • Cai-Zhuang Wang

    • Ames Laboratory
    • Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory

Authors

  • Cai-Zhuang Wang

    • Ames Laboratory
    • Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory
  • Minsung Kim

    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rutgers University
    • Ames Laboratory
  • Myron Hupalo

    • Ames Laboratory
  • Michael C. Tringides

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
  • Pat A Thiel

    • Department of Chemistry and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University
  • Kai-Ming Ho

    • Iowa State University
    • Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory