AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Graphene and Related Materials Focus Topic Thursday Sessions
       Session GR+NS+PS+SS-ThM

Paper GR+NS+PS+SS-ThM3
Water Splits Epitaxial Graphene on Ru(0001) from Domain Boundaries

Thursday, November 3, 2011, 8:40 am, Room 208

Session: Graphene: Surface Chemistry, Functionalization, Plasma Processing and Sensor Applications
Presenter: Xiaofeng Feng, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Authors: X. Feng, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
S. Maier, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
M. Salmeron, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
Epitaxial growth of graphene on metal substrates has recently been demonstrated as a rational synthesis route for producing macroscopic graphene domains and may hold the key to realizing the potential of large-scale applications. However, the epitaxial graphene is generally polycrystalline, with domain boundaries that may severely affect its structure and properties. Here we report that water adsorption splits epitaxial graphene on Ru(0001) and results in nanoscale graphene flakes at temperatures as low as 90K. Scanning tunneling microscopy studies indicated that the splitting starts primarily from domain boundaries followed by water intercalation underneath graphene. The mechanism proposed is that Ru-induced water dissociation provides hydroxyl species that break the graphene starting at the dangling and stretched bonds at the boundaries.