From Point Defects in Graphene to Two-Dimensional Amorphous Carbon

Abstract

While crystalline two-dimensional materials have become an experimental reality during the past few years, an amorphous 2-D material has not been reported before. Here, using electron irradiation we create an sp2-hybridized one-atom-thick flat carbon membrane with a random arrangement of polygons, including four-membered carbon rings. We show how the transformation occurs step-by-step by nucleation and growth of low-energy multi-vacancy structures constructed of rotated hexagons and other polygons. Our observations, along with first-principles calculations, provide new insights to the bonding behavior of carbon and dynamics of defects in graphene. The created domains possess a band gap, which may open new possibilities for engineering graphene-based electronic devices.

10 pages, 10 figures including supplementary information

References in corpus (5)

• Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films
• The electronic properties of graphene
• Two Dimensional Atomic Crystals
• Electronic transport in polycrystalline graphene
• A Two-Dimensional Carbon Semiconductor

Cited by in corpus (16)

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• Methane and carbon dioxide adsorption on edge-functionalized graphene: A comparative DFT study
• Imaging Atomic-Level Random Walk of a Point Defect in Graphene
• Octagraphene as a Versatile Carbon Atomic Sheet for Novel Nanotubes, Unconventional Fullerenes and Hydrogen Storage
• Quantum Spin Hall Effect in 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Haeckelites
• Effects of extrinsic point defects in phosphorene: B, C, N, O and F Adatoms
• Non-invasive transmission electron microscopy of vacancy defects in graphene produced by ion irradiation
• Insulating Behavior of an Amorphous Graphene Membrane
• Implantation and atomic scale investigation of self-interstitials in graphene
• Atomic structure and energetics of large vacancies in graphene
• Divacancy-induced Ferromagnetism in Graphene Nanoribbons
• GraphAne: From Synthesis to Applications