29 research outputs found
An accurate measurement of electron beam induced displacement cross sections for single-layer graphene
We present an accurate measurement and a quantitative analysis of
electron-beam induced displacements of carbon atoms in single-layer graphene.
We directly measure the atomic displacement ("knock-on") cross section by
counting the lost atoms as a function of the electron beam energy and applied
dose. Further, we separate knock-on damage (originating from the collision of
the beam electrons with the nucleus of the target atom) from other radiation
damage mechanisms (e.g. ionization damage or chemical etching) by the
comparison of ordinary (12C) and heavy (13C) graphene. Our analysis shows that
a static lattice approximation is not sufficient to describe knock-on damage in
this material, while a very good agreement between calculated and experimental
cross sections is obtained if lattice vibrations are taken into account.Comment: 10 pages including supplementary inf
Direct imaging of structural disordering and heterogeneous dynamics of fullerene molecular liquid
Structural rearrangements govern the various properties of disordered systems and visualization of these dynamical processes can provide critical information on structural deformation and phase transformation of the systems. However, direct imaging of individual atoms or molecules in a disordered state is quite challenging. Here, we prepare a model molecular system of C70 molecules on graphene and directly visualize the structural and dynamical evolution using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy. E-beam irradiation stimulates dynamics of fullerene molecules, which results in the first-order like structural transformation from the molecular crystal to molecular liquid. The real-time tracking of individual molecules using an automatic molecular identification process elucidates the relaxation behavior of a stretched exponential functional form. Moreover, the directly observed heterogeneous dynamics bear similarity to the dynamical heterogeneity in supercooled liquids near the glass transition. Fullerenes on graphene can serve as a new model system, which allows investigation of molecular dynamics in disordered phases
Oxidation behavior of graphene-coated copper at intrinsic graphene defects of different origins
The development of ultrathin barrier films is vital to the advanced semiconductor industry. Graphene appears to hold promise as a protective coating; however, the polycrystalline and defective nature of engineered graphene hinders its practical applications. Here, we investigate the oxidation behavior of graphene-coated Cu foils at intrinsic graphene defects of different origins. Macro-scale information regarding the spatial distribution and oxidation resistance of various graphene defects is readily obtained using optical and electron microscopies after the hot-plate annealing. The controlled oxidation experiments reveal that the degree of structural deficiency is strongly dependent on the origins of the structural defects, the crystallographic orientations of the underlying Cu grains, the growth conditions of graphene, and the kinetics of the graphene growth. The obtained experimental and theoretical results show that oxygen radicals, decomposed from water molecules in ambient air, are effectively inverted at Stone-Wales defects into the graphene/Cu interface with the assistance of facilitators
Atomic scale study of the life cycle of a dislocation in graphene from birth to annihilation
Dislocations, one of the key entities in materials science, govern the properties of any crystalline material. Thus, understanding their life cycle, from creation to annihilation via motion and interaction with other dislocations, point defects and surfaces, is of fundamental importance. Unfortunately, atomic-scale investigations of dislocation evolution in a bulk object are well beyond the spatial and temporal resolution limits of current characterization techniques. Here we overcome the experimental limits by investigating the two-dimensional graphene in an aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope, exploiting the impinging energetic electrons both to image and stimulate atomic-scale morphological changes in the material. The resulting transformations are followed in situ, atom-by-atom, showing the full life cycle of a dislocation from birth to annihilation. Our experiments, combined with atomistic simulations, reveal the evolution of dislocations in two-dimensional systems to be governed by markedly long-ranging out-of-plane buckling.Peer reviewe
Atomic Structure of Reduced Graphene Oxide
Using high resolution transmission electron microscopy. we identify the specific atomic scale features in chemically derived graphene monolayers that originate from the oxidation-reduction treatment of graphene. The layers are found to comprise defect-free graphene areas with sizes of a few nanometers interspersed with defect areas dominated by clustered pentagons and heptagons. Interestingly, all carbon atoms in these defective areas are bonded to three neighbors maintaining a planar sp(2)-configuration, which makes them undetectable by spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, we observe that they introduce significant in-plane distortions and strain in the surrounding lattice