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Size contrast of Pt nanoparticles formed on neighboring domains within suspended and supported graphene

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Abstract

The relatively small size of thin (one or few layers) graphene flakes makes it extremely difficult to study the behavior of suspended graphene by characterization techniques other than the electron microscopies. Herein, we exploited the capability of spatially resolved photoemission in combination with high resolution transmission electron microscopy to investigate the interaction of thermally evaporated Pt atoms on suspended and supported graphene. Spectroscopic and microscopic analyses reveal that the nucleation of nanometersized Pt particles in these two regions exhibit different trends. While only small nanometer-sized islands are present on the supported graphene, relatively larger clusters of islands were also found on the suspended flakes. The X-ray photoemission C 1s core levels acquired after the Pt deposition show an increase in the number of vacancies in the graphene sheets.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the technical staff of Elettra for the support in the sample and experiment preparation.

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Author notes

  1. Hikmet Sezen

    Present address: Present address: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, Berlin, 12489, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Università degli Studi di Genova - Facoltà di Scienze Matematiche, Fisiche e Naturali, Viale Benedetto XV, Genova, 3-16132, Italy

    Dario Roccella

  2. Elettra – Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. in Area Science Park, SS14-Km163.5, Trieste, 34149, Italy

    Matteo Amati, Hikmet Sezen & Luca Gregoratti

  3. Electron Microscopy Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), via Morego 30, Genova, 16163, Italy

    Rosaria Brescia

Authors
  1. Dario Roccella
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  4. Rosaria Brescia
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Correspondence to Luca Gregoratti.

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Roccella, D., Amati, M., Sezen, H. et al. Size contrast of Pt nanoparticles formed on neighboring domains within suspended and supported graphene. Nano Res. 11, 1589–1598 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1774-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1774-1

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