Ripple edge engineering of graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

It is now possible to produce graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with atomically defined widths. GNRs offer many opportunities for electronic devices and composites, if it is possible to establish the link between edge structure and functionalisation, and resultant GNR properties. Switching hydrogen edge termination to larger more complex functional groups such as hydroxyls or thiols induces strain at the ribbon edge. However we show that this strain is then relieved via the formation of static out-of-plane ripples. The resultant ribbons have a significantly reduced Young's Modulus which varies as a function of ribbon width, modified band gaps, as well as heterogeneous chemical reactivity along the edge. Rather than being the exception, such static edge ripples are likely on the majority of functionalized graphene ribbon edges.

Supplementary Materials available

References in corpus (10)

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Cited by in corpus (10)

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• Stable hydrogenated graphene edge types: Normal and reconstructed Klein edges
• A comparative study of density functional and density functional tight binding calculations of defects in graphene
• Electronics and Optics of Graphene Nanoflakes: Edge Functionalization and Structural Distortions
• Mechanical properties of nanosheets and nanotubes investigated using a new geometry independent volume definition
• Fracturing graphene by chlorination: a theoretical viewpoint
• Graphene edge structures: Folding, scrolling, tubing, rippling and twisting
• Interplay between edge states and simple bulk defects in graphene nanoribbons