| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science | Thursday Sessions |
| Session AS-ThP |
| Session: | Applied Surface Science Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Esin Soy, University of Illinois at Chicago |
| Authors: | E. Soy, University of Illinois at Chicago Z. Liang, University of Illinois at Chicago M. Trenary, University of Illinois at Chicago |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Formation and growth of Pt, Rh, and Pd nanoclusters on a graphene covered metal substrate has been investigated by ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (UHV-STM). For this purpose a graphene film was formed on the Cu (111) surface by the decomposition of ethylene at high temperatures. According to our results, isolated graphene islands were successfully grown on the Cu surface with different periodicities. Different rotational domains were observed as a result of weakly coupled Cu and graphene caused by the low C solubility in Cu. The most prevalent moire patterns have periodicity of 2.2, 4 and 6.6 nm with rotational angles of 0° and 1.4°, and 37°. Subsequently, nanoclusters were formed at room temperature on the template of a graphene moire pattern formed on Cu (111) surface. As confirmed by the height and size profiles, Rh and Pt clusters display similar planar structures with an average height of about 0.4 nm and average diameter of about 10 nm. The size and distribution of the metal clusters on the two types of Moirés seem to be different. The clusters on the smaller Moiré pattern show a narrow size distribution in both diameter and height. Additionally, these nanoclusters are found to be relatively stable and only undergo agglomeration at relatively high temperatures. These results demonstrate that the metal-C and metal-metal interactions may play a significant role in the cluster formation and it is possible to fabricate finely dispersed metal nanoclusters on the moire structure of graphene covered Cu (111).