1. Ultra-thin NaCl films as protective layers for graphene
- Author
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Luis Vázquez, Michael Foerster, Héctor González-Herrero, José I. Martínez, Koen Lauwaet, Irene Palacio, José A. Martín-Gago, Mar García-Hernández, Lucia Aballe, Francisco Palomares, European Commission, Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Comunidad de Madrid, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España), Palacio, Irene, Lauwaet, Koen, Martínez, José I., Palacio, Irene [0000-0002-3345-4848], Lauwaet, Koen [0000-0003-1024-6779], and Martínez, José I. [0000-0002-2086-8603]
- Subjects
Materials science ,Interfaces ,Intercalation (chemistry) ,02 engineering and technology ,Capping layers ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,7. Clean energy ,Article ,law.invention ,Metal ,NaCl ,law ,Microscopy ,General Materials Science ,Cu(111) ,Graphene ,Ultra-thin films ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,0104 chemical sciences ,Characterization (materials science) ,Chemical engineering ,Electron diffraction ,visual_art ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,0210 nano-technology ,Layer (electronics) - Abstract
The ageing of graphene is an important issue for technological applications. Capping layers are a good way of circumventing this problem. In this work, we propose the use of ultra-thin NaCl films as easilyremovable protective layers. We have carried out a detailed characterization of the NaCl/graphene interface on metal substrates, namely Cu(111) and Ir(111), by means of complementary microscopies, electron diffraction and spectroscopic techniques. Interestingly, we show that NaCl neither interacts in a chemical way with graphene nor intercalates through it. We demonstrate that the NaCl film is stable under ambient conditions, protecting the graphene surface from oxidation. In addition, after removing the protective layer, graphene remains intact., This work has been supported by the EU Graphene Flagship funding (Grant Graphene Core2 785219), the Spanish MINECO (MAT2017-85089-C2-1R, MAT2016-80394-R and RYC-2015-17730) and the EU via the ERC-Synergy Program (Grant ERC-2013-SYG-610256 NANOCOSMOS) and the European Structural Funds via FotoArt-CM project (P2018/NMT-4367)., We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)
- Published
- 2019