10 research outputs found
Chemistry and Structure of Graphene Oxide <i>via</i> Direct Imaging
Graphene oxide (GO)
and reduced GO (rGO) are the only variants
of graphene that can be manufactured at the kilogram scale, and yet
the widely accepted model for their structure has largely relied on
indirect evidence. Notably, existing high-resolution transmission
electron microscopy (HRTEM) studies of graphene oxide report long-range
order of sp<sup>2</sup> lattice with isolated defect clusters. Here,
we present HRTEM evidence of a different structural form of GO, where
nanocrystalline regions of sp<sup>2</sup> lattice are surrounded by
regions of disorder. The presence of contaminants that adsorb to the
surface of the material at room temperature normally prevents direct
observation of the intrinsic atomic structure of this defective GO.
To overcome this, we use an <i>in situ</i> heating holder
within an aberration-corrected TEM (AC-TEM) to study the atomic structure
of this nanocrystalline graphene oxide from room temperature to 700
°C. As the temperature increases to above 500 °C, the adsorbates
detach from the GO and the underlying atomic structure is imaged to
be small 2–4 nm crystalline domains within a polycrystalline
GO film. By combining spectroscopic evidence with the AC-TEM data,
we support the dynamic interpretation of the structural evolution
of graphene oxide
Spatially Dependent Lattice Deformations for Dislocations at the Edges of Graphene
We show that dislocations located at the edge of graphene cause different lattice deformations to those located in the bulk lattice. When a dislocation is located near an edge, a decrease in the rippling and increase of the in-plane rotation occurs relative to the dislocations in the bulk. The increased in-plane rotation near the edge causes bond rotations at the edge of graphene to reduce the overall strain in the system. Dislocations were highly stable and remained fixed in their position even when located within a few lattice spacings from the edge of graphene. We study this behavior at the atomic level using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy. These results show detailed information about the behavior of dislocations in 2D materials and the strain properties that result
Atomic Structure and Dynamics of Defects in 2D MoS<sub>2</sub> Bilayers
We present a detailed atomic-level
study of defects in bilayer
MoS<sub>2</sub> using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy
at an 80 kV accelerating voltage. Sulfur vacancies are found in both
the top and bottom layers in 2H- and 3R-stacked MoS<sub>2</sub> bilayers.
In 3R-stacked bilayers, sulfur vacancies can migrate between layers
but more preferably reside in the (Mo–2S) column rather than
the (2S) column, indicating more complex vacancy production and migration
in the bilayer system. As the point vacancy number increases, aggregation
into larger defect structures occurs, and this impacts the interlayer
stacking. Competition between compression in one layer from the loss
of S atoms and the van der Waals interlayer force causes much less
structural deformations than those in the monolayer system. Sulfur
vacancy lines neighboring in top and bottom layers introduce less
strain compared to those staggered in the same layer. These results
show how defect structures in multilayered two-dimensional materials
differ from their monolayer form
<i>In Situ</i> Atomic Level Dynamics of Heterogeneous Nucleation and Growth of Graphene from Inorganic Nanoparticle Seeds
An <i>in situ</i> heating holder inside an aberration-corrected
transmission electron microscope (AC-TEM) is used to investigate the
real-time atomic level dynamics associated with heterogeneous nucleation
and growth of graphene from Au nanoparticle seeds. Heating monolayer
graphene to an elevated temperature of 800 °C removes the majority
of amorphous carbon adsorbates and leaves a clean surface. The aggregation
of Au impurity atoms into nanoparticle clusters that are bound to
the surface of monolayer graphene causes nucleation of secondary graphene
layers from carbon feedstock present within the microscope chamber.
This enables the <i>in situ</i> study of heterogeneous nucleation
and growth of graphene at the atomic level. We show that the growth
mechanism consists of alternating C cluster attachment and indentation
filling to maintain a uniform growth front of lowest energy. Back-folding
of the graphene growth front is observed, followed by a process that
involves flipping back and attaching to the surrounding region. We
show how the highly polycrystalline graphene seed evolves with time
into a higher order crystalline structure using a combination of AC-TEM
and tight-binding molecular dynamics (TBMD) simulations. This helps
understand the detailed lowest-energy step-by-step pathways associated
with grain boundaries (GB) migration and crystallization processes.
We find the motion of the GB is discontinuous and mediated by both
bond rotation and atom evaporation, supported by density functional
theory calculations and TBMD. These results provide insights into
the formation of crystalline seed domains that are generated during
bottom-up graphene synthesis
<i>In Situ</i> Atomic Level Dynamics of Heterogeneous Nucleation and Growth of Graphene from Inorganic Nanoparticle Seeds
An <i>in situ</i> heating holder inside an aberration-corrected
transmission electron microscope (AC-TEM) is used to investigate the
real-time atomic level dynamics associated with heterogeneous nucleation
and growth of graphene from Au nanoparticle seeds. Heating monolayer
graphene to an elevated temperature of 800 °C removes the majority
of amorphous carbon adsorbates and leaves a clean surface. The aggregation
of Au impurity atoms into nanoparticle clusters that are bound to
the surface of monolayer graphene causes nucleation of secondary graphene
layers from carbon feedstock present within the microscope chamber.
This enables the <i>in situ</i> study of heterogeneous nucleation
and growth of graphene at the atomic level. We show that the growth
mechanism consists of alternating C cluster attachment and indentation
filling to maintain a uniform growth front of lowest energy. Back-folding
of the graphene growth front is observed, followed by a process that
involves flipping back and attaching to the surrounding region. We
show how the highly polycrystalline graphene seed evolves with time
into a higher order crystalline structure using a combination of AC-TEM
and tight-binding molecular dynamics (TBMD) simulations. This helps
understand the detailed lowest-energy step-by-step pathways associated
with grain boundaries (GB) migration and crystallization processes.
We find the motion of the GB is discontinuous and mediated by both
bond rotation and atom evaporation, supported by density functional
theory calculations and TBMD. These results provide insights into
the formation of crystalline seed domains that are generated during
bottom-up graphene synthesis
Thermally Induced Dynamics of Dislocations in Graphene at Atomic Resolution
Thermally induced dislocation movements are important in understanding the effects of high temperature annealing on modifying the crystal structure. We use an <i>in situ</i> heating holder in an aberration corrected transmission electron microscopy to study the movement of dislocations in suspended monolayer graphene up to 800 °C. Control of temperature enables the differentiation of electron beam induced effects and thermally driven processes. At room temperature, the dynamics of dislocation behavior is driven by the electron beam irradiation at 80 kV; however at higher temperatures, increased movement of the dislocation is observed and provides evidence for the influence of thermal energy to the system. An analysis of the dislocation movement shows both climb and glide processes, including new complex pathways for migration and large nanoscale rapid jumps between fixed positions in the lattice. The improved understanding of the high temperature dislocation movement provides insights into annealing processes in graphene and the behavior of defects with increased heat
Europa und das Meer. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin 13 June 2018 – 06 January 2019
The atomic structure of subnanometer pores in graphene, of interest due to graphene’s potential as a desalination and gas filtration membrane, is demonstrated by atomic resolution aberration corrected transmission electron microscopy. High temperatures of 500 °C and over are used to prevent self-healing of the pores, permitting the successful imaging of open pore geometries consisting of between −4 to −13 atoms, all exhibiting subnanometer diameters. Picometer resolution bond length measurements are used to confirm reconstruction of five-membered ring projections that often decorate the pore perimeter, knowledge which is used to explore the viability of completely self-passivated subnanometer pore structures; bonding configurations where the pore would not require external passivation by, for example, hydrogen to be chemically inert
<i>In Situ</i> Atomic Level Dynamics of Heterogeneous Nucleation and Growth of Graphene from Inorganic Nanoparticle Seeds
An <i>in situ</i> heating holder inside an aberration-corrected
transmission electron microscope (AC-TEM) is used to investigate the
real-time atomic level dynamics associated with heterogeneous nucleation
and growth of graphene from Au nanoparticle seeds. Heating monolayer
graphene to an elevated temperature of 800 °C removes the majority
of amorphous carbon adsorbates and leaves a clean surface. The aggregation
of Au impurity atoms into nanoparticle clusters that are bound to
the surface of monolayer graphene causes nucleation of secondary graphene
layers from carbon feedstock present within the microscope chamber.
This enables the <i>in situ</i> study of heterogeneous nucleation
and growth of graphene at the atomic level. We show that the growth
mechanism consists of alternating C cluster attachment and indentation
filling to maintain a uniform growth front of lowest energy. Back-folding
of the graphene growth front is observed, followed by a process that
involves flipping back and attaching to the surrounding region. We
show how the highly polycrystalline graphene seed evolves with time
into a higher order crystalline structure using a combination of AC-TEM
and tight-binding molecular dynamics (TBMD) simulations. This helps
understand the detailed lowest-energy step-by-step pathways associated
with grain boundaries (GB) migration and crystallization processes.
We find the motion of the GB is discontinuous and mediated by both
bond rotation and atom evaporation, supported by density functional
theory calculations and TBMD. These results provide insights into
the formation of crystalline seed domains that are generated during
bottom-up graphene synthesis
Elongated Silicon–Carbon Bonds at Graphene Edges
We study the bond lengths of silicon
(Si) atoms attached to both
armchair and zigzag edges using aberration corrected transmission
electron microscopy with monochromation of the electron beam. An <i>in situ</i> heating holder is used to perform imaging of samples
at 800 °C in order to reduce chemical etching effects that cause
rapid structure changes of graphene edges at room temperature under
the electron beam. We provide detailed bond length measurements for
Si atoms both attached to edges and also as near edge substitutional
dopants. Edge reconstruction is also involved with the addition of
Si dopants. Si atoms bonded to the edge of graphene are compared to
substitutional dopants in the bulk lattice and reveal reduced out-of-plane
distortion and bond elongation. An extended linear array of Si atoms
at the edge is found to be energy-favorable due to inter-Si interactions.
These results provide detailed structural information about the Si–C
bonds in graphene, which may have importance in future catalytic and
electronic applications
Fabrication, Pressure Testing, and Nanopore Formation of Single-Layer Graphene Membranes
Single-layer
graphene (SLG) membranes have great promise as ultrahigh
flux, high selectivity membranes for gas mixture separations due to
their single atom thickness. It remains a central question whether
SLG membranes of a requisite area can exist under an imposed pressure
drop and temperatures needed for industrial gas separation. An additional
challenge is the development of techniques to perforate or otherwise
control the porosity in graphene membranes to impart molecularly sized
pores, the size regime predicted to produce high gas separation factors.
Herein, we report fabrication, pressure testing, temperature cycling,
and gas permeance measurements through free-standing, low defect density
SLG membranes. Our measurements demonstrate the remarkable chemical
and mechanical stability of these 5 μm diameter suspended SLG
membranes, which remain intact over weeks of testing at pressure differentials
of >0.5 bar, repeated temperature cycling from 25 to 200 °C,
and exposure to 15 mol % ozone for up to 3 min. These membranes act
as molecularly impermeable barriers, with very low or near negligible
background permeance. We also demonstrate a 1077 °C temperature
O<sub>2</sub> etching technique to create nanopores on the order of
∼1 nm diameter as imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy,
although transport through such pores has not yet been successfully
measured. Overall, these results represent an important advancement
that will enable graphene gas separation membranes to be fabricated,
tested, and modified <i>in situ</i> while maintaining remarkable
mechanical and thermal stability