Nature Communications
Nature Communications
5 years ago

Highly selective covalent organic functionalization of epitaxial graphene

Highly selective covalent organic functionalization of epitaxial graphene
José A. Martín-Gago, Mar García-Hernández, , , Roberto F. Luccas, Irene Palacio, Rebeca A. Bueno, Francisco J. Palomares, José I. Martínez, Nerea Ruiz del Árbol, María F. López, Federico Mompean, Jacek M. Baranowski, Koen Lauwaet, Sangeeta Thakur, Wlodek Strupinski, Carmen Munuera
Graphene functionalization with organics is expected to be an important step for the development of graphene-based materials with tailored electronic properties. However, its high chemical inertness makes difficult a controlled and selective covalent functionalization, and most of the works performed up to the date report electrostatic molecular adsorption or unruly functionalization. We show hereafter a mechanism for promoting highly specific covalent bonding of any amino-terminated molecule and a description of the operating processes. We show, by different experimental techniques and theoretical methods, that the excess of charge at carbon dangling-bonds formed on single-atomic vacancies at the graphene surface induces enhanced reactivity towards a selective oxidation of the amino group and subsequent integration of the nitrogen within the graphene network. Remarkably, functionalized surfaces retain the electronic properties of pristine graphene. This study opens the door for development of graphene-based interfaces, as nano-bio-hybrid composites, fabrication of dielectrics, plasmonics or spintronics.

Publisher URL: http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15306

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15306

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.