Growth of Nanostructured and Functional Materials - Single layer graphene growth by C60 Supersonic Molecular Beam Deposition (SuMBD) on Cu(111)

   FOR MORE INFORMATION: Tullio Toccoli - +39 0461 314827 - tullio.toccolii@imem.cnr.it

Unzipping of C60 on the Cu(111) surface can be exploited to obtain a C=C sp² single layer structure,  typically graphene. The idea is to promote cage opening and rearrangement on the surface by enhancing specific interphase processes thanks to the energy content of the molecules in the supersonic molecular beam. Theorethical simulations (a) show the feasiblity of this new synthetic approach, while experiments with C60 at the highest KE achievable demonstrate (b and c, Micro-Raman and XPS characterizations) the possibility to grow graphene combining the kinetic activation with a moderate annealing, after the deposition of the first molecular layer.

R. Tatti, L. Aversa, R. Verucchi, E. Cavaliere, G. Garberoglio, N. M. Pugno, G. Speranza and S. Taioli, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 37982