Self-assembly of ordered graphene nanodot arrays

Luca Camilli (), Jakob H. Jørgensen, Jerry Tersoff (), Adam C. Stoot, Richard Balog, Andrew Cassidy, Jerzy T. Sadowski, Peter Bøggild and Liv Hornekær
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Luca Camilli: Technical University of Denmark
Jakob H. Jørgensen: Aarhus University
Jerry Tersoff: Yorktown Heights
Adam C. Stoot: Technical University of Denmark
Richard Balog: Aarhus University
Andrew Cassidy: Aarhus University
Jerzy T. Sadowski: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Peter Bøggild: Technical University of Denmark
Liv Hornekær: Aarhus University

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The ability to fabricate nanoscale domains of uniform size in two-dimensional materials could potentially enable new applications in nanoelectronics and the development of innovative metamaterials. However, achieving even minimal control over the growth of two-dimensional lateral heterostructures at such extreme dimensions has proven exceptionally challenging. Here we show the spontaneous formation of ordered arrays of graphene nano-domains (dots), epitaxially embedded in a two-dimensional boron–carbon–nitrogen alloy. These dots exhibit a strikingly uniform size of 1.6 ± 0.2 nm and strong ordering, and the array periodicity can be tuned by adjusting the growth conditions. We explain this behaviour with a model incorporating dot-boundary energy, a moiré-modulated substrate interaction and a long-range repulsion between dots. This new two-dimensional material, which theory predicts to be an ordered composite of uniform-size semiconducting graphene quantum dots laterally integrated within a larger-bandgap matrix, holds promise for novel electronic and optoelectronic properties, with a variety of potential device applications.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00042-4

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