Nanowerk October 26, 2020
The lack of atomic-scale precision in using current state-of-the-art “top-down” synthetic methods — cutting a graphene sheet into atom-narrow strips – stymie graphene’s practical use. An international team of researchers (USA – Oak Ridge National Laboratory, The University of Tennessee, Poland, Luxembourg) has developed a “bottom-up” approach — building the graphene nanoribbon directly at the atomic level in such a way that it can be used in specific applications. The nanoribbons were synthesized on the surface of rutile titanium dioxide that assisted the cyclode-hydrofluorination of specifically designed precursor molecules through a series of thermally triggered transformations. The reactions needed to obtain certain properties were programmed into the precursor. As the temperature at which a reaction will occur is known the sequence of reactions can be controlled by tuning the temperatures. The approach creates a high-precision ribbon, decoupled from the substrate, which is desirable for spintronic and quantum information science applications…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE