Graphite and Graphene Fairy Circles: A Bottom-Up Approach for the Formation of Nanocorrals.
Thanh Hai PhanHans Van GorpZhi LiThi Mien Trung HuynhYasuhiko FujitaLander VerstraeteSamuel EyleyWim ThielemansHiroshi Uji-IBrandon E HirschStijn F L MertensJohn GreenwoodOleksandr IvasenkoSteven De FeyterPublished in: ACS nano (2019)
A convenient covalent functionalization approach and nanopatterning method of graphite and graphene is developed. In contrast to expectations, electrochemically activated dediazotization of a mixture of two aryl diazonium compounds in aqueous media leads to a spatially inhomogeneous functionalization of graphitic surfaces, creating covalently modified surfaces with quasi-uniform spaced islands of pristine graphite or graphene, coined nanocorrals. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry approaches are compared. The average diameter (45-130 nm) and surface density (20-125 corrals/μm2) of these nanocorrals are tunable. These chemically modified nanostructured graphitic (CMNG) surfaces are characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Mechanisms leading to the formation of these CMNG surfaces are discussed. The potential of these surfaces to investigate supramolecular self-assembly and on-surface reactions under nanoconfinement conditions is demonstrated.
Keyphrases
- high resolution
- single molecule
- atomic force microscopy
- biofilm formation
- high speed
- raman spectroscopy
- walled carbon nanotubes
- magnetic resonance
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- room temperature
- carbon nanotubes
- optical coherence tomography
- photodynamic therapy
- staphylococcus aureus
- magnetic resonance imaging
- high throughput
- candida albicans
- mass spectrometry
- ionic liquid
- solid state
- electron microscopy
- quantum dots