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Nano Research 2018, 11(5): 2405-2411 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1861-3
Research Article | Issue | Published: 12 May 2018

Single Cr atom catalytic growth of graphene

Show Author's Information Huy Q. Ta1,2,3,§,  Liang Zhao1,2,§,  Wanjian Yin1,2( ),  Darius Pohl4,  Bernd Rellinghaus4,  Thomas Gemming4,  Barbara Trzebicka3,  Justinas Palisaitis5,  Gao Jing1,2,  Per O. Å. Persson5,  Zhongfan Liu1,2,6,  Alicja Bachmatiuk1,2,3,4( ),  Mark H. Rümmeli1,2,3,4( )
Soochow Institute for Energy and Materials InnovationsCollege of PhysicsOptoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and TechnologySoochow UniversitySuzhou215006China
Key Laboratory of Advanced Carbon Materials and Wearable Energy Technologies of Jiangsu ProvinceSoochow UniversitySuzhou215006China
Centre of Polymer and Carbon MaterialsPolish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Sklodowskiej 34, Zabrze, 41-819Poland
IFW DresdenHelmholtz Strasse 2001069Dresden, Germany
epartment of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping UniversitySE-581 83Linköping, Sweden
Center for NanochemistryBeijing Science and Engineering Centre for NanocarbonsBeijing National Laboratory for Molecular SciencesCollege of Chemistry and Molecular EngineeringPeking UniversityBeijing100871China

§Huy Q. Ta and Liang Zhao contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
graphene synthesis, single atom, in situ transmission electron microscope (TEM), electron driven catalysis, Cr
Cite this article:
Ta HQ, Zhao L, Yin W, et al. Single Cr atom catalytic growth of graphene. Nano Research, 2018, 11(5): 2405-2411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1861-3
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Single atoms are the ultimate minimum size limit for catalysts. Graphene, as an exciting, ultimately thin (one atom thick) material can be imaged in a transmission electron microscope with relatively few imaging artefacts. Here, we directly observe the behavior of single Cr atoms in graphene mono- and di-vacancies and, more importantly, at graphene edges. Similar studies at graphene edges with other elemental atoms, with the exception of Fe, show catalytic etching of graphene. Fe atoms have been shown to both etch and grow graphene. In contrast, Cr atoms are only observed to induce graphene growth. Complementary theoretical calculations illuminate the differences between Fe and Cr, and confirm single Cr atoms as superior catalysts for sp2 carbon growth.


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Abstract
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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Single Cr atom catalytic growth of graphene

Show Author's information Huy Q. Ta1,2,3,§, Liang Zhao1,2,§, Wanjian Yin1,2( ), Darius Pohl4, Bernd Rellinghaus4, Thomas Gemming4, Barbara Trzebicka3, Justinas Palisaitis5, Gao Jing1,2, Per O. Å. Persson5, Zhongfan Liu1,2,6, Alicja Bachmatiuk1,2,3,4( ), Mark H. Rümmeli1,2,3,4( )
Soochow Institute for Energy and Materials InnovationsCollege of PhysicsOptoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and TechnologySoochow UniversitySuzhou215006China
Key Laboratory of Advanced Carbon Materials and Wearable Energy Technologies of Jiangsu ProvinceSoochow UniversitySuzhou215006China
Centre of Polymer and Carbon MaterialsPolish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Sklodowskiej 34, Zabrze, 41-819Poland
IFW DresdenHelmholtz Strasse 2001069Dresden, Germany
epartment of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping UniversitySE-581 83Linköping, Sweden
Center for NanochemistryBeijing Science and Engineering Centre for NanocarbonsBeijing National Laboratory for Molecular SciencesCollege of Chemistry and Molecular EngineeringPeking UniversityBeijing100871China

§Huy Q. Ta and Liang Zhao contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Single atoms are the ultimate minimum size limit for catalysts. Graphene, as an exciting, ultimately thin (one atom thick) material can be imaged in a transmission electron microscope with relatively few imaging artefacts. Here, we directly observe the behavior of single Cr atoms in graphene mono- and di-vacancies and, more importantly, at graphene edges. Similar studies at graphene edges with other elemental atoms, with the exception of Fe, show catalytic etching of graphene. Fe atoms have been shown to both etch and grow graphene. In contrast, Cr atoms are only observed to induce graphene growth. Complementary theoretical calculations illuminate the differences between Fe and Cr, and confirm single Cr atoms as superior catalysts for sp2 carbon growth.

Keywords: graphene synthesis, single atom, in situ transmission electron microscope (TEM), electron driven catalysis, Cr

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 01 August 2017
Revised: 12 September 2017
Accepted: 20 September 2017
Published: 12 May 2018
Issue date: May 2018

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer‐Verlag GmbH Germany 2017

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The following are gratefully acknowledged. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51672181), the National Science Center for the financial support within the frame of the Sonata Program (No. 2014/13/D/ST5/02853) and the Opus program (No. 2015/19/B/ST5/03399). H. Q. T. thanks Soochow University for support. P. O.Å. P. wishes to acknowledge the Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation for support of the electron microscopy laboratory in Linköping.

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