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Single Cr atom catalytic growth of graphene

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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.

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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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Author notes

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

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soochow Institute for Energy and Materials Innovations, College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, China

    Huy Q. Ta, Liang Zhao, Wanjian Yin, Gao Jing, Zhongfan Liu, Alicja Bachmatiuk & Mark H. Rümmeli

  2. Key Laboratory of Advanced Carbon Materials and Wearable Energy Technologies of Jiangsu Province, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, China

    Huy Q. Ta, Liang Zhao, Wanjian Yin, Gao Jing, Zhongfan Liu, Alicja Bachmatiuk & Mark H. Rümmeli

  3. Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Sklodowskiej 34, Zabrze, 41-819, Poland

    Huy Q. Ta, Barbara Trzebicka, Alicja Bachmatiuk & Mark H. Rümmeli

  4. IFW Dresden, Helmholtz Strasse 20, 01069, Dresden, Germany

    Darius Pohl, Bernd Rellinghaus, Thomas Gemming, Alicja Bachmatiuk & Mark H. Rümmeli

  5. Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden

    Justinas Palisaitis & Per O. Å. Persson

  6. Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing Science and Engineering Centre for Nanocarbons, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Zhongfan Liu

Authors
  1. Huy Q. Ta
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  2. Liang Zhao
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  3. Wanjian Yin
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  7. Barbara Trzebicka
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  8. Justinas Palisaitis
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  9. Gao Jing
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  10. Per O. Å. Persson
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  11. Zhongfan Liu
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  12. Alicja Bachmatiuk
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  13. Mark H. Rümmeli
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wanjian Yin, Alicja Bachmatiuk or Mark H. Rümmeli.

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Ta, H.Q., Zhao, L., Yin, W. et al. Single Cr atom catalytic growth of graphene. Nano Res. 11, 2405–2411 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1861-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1861-3

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