Nanomaterials (Dec 2022)

Formation of Diamane Nanostructures in Bilayer Graphene on Langasite under Irradiation with a Focused Electron Beam

  • Eugenii V. Emelin,
  • Hak Dong Cho,
  • Vitaly I. Korepanov,
  • Liubov A. Varlamova,
  • Sergey V. Erohin,
  • Deuk Young Kim,
  • Pavel B. Sorokin,
  • Gennady N. Panin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12244408
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 24
p. 4408

Abstract

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In the presented paper, we studied bilayer CVD graphene transferred to a langasite substrate and irradiated with a focused electron beam through a layer of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Changes in the Raman spectra and an increase in the electrical resistance of bigraphene after irradiation indicate a local phase transition associated with graphene diamondization. The results are explained in the framework of the theory of a chemically induced phase transition of bilayer graphene to diamane, which can be associated with the release of hydrogen and oxygen atoms from PMMA and langasite due to the “knock-on” effect, respectively, upon irradiation of the structure with an electron beam. Theoretical calculations of the modified structure of bigraphene on langasite and the experimental evaluation of sp3-hybridized carbon fraction indicate the formation of diamane nanoclusters in the bigraphene irradiated regions. This result can be considered as the first realization of local tunable bilayer graphene diamondization.

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