Journal
NANO RESEARCH
Volume 11, Issue 5, Pages 2405-2411Publisher
TSINGHUA UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-017-1861-3
Keywords
in situ transmission electron microscope (TEM); electron driven catalysis; Cr; single atom; graphene synthesis
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51672181]
- National Science Center [2014/13/D/ST5/02853, 2015/19/B/ST5/03399]
- Soochow University
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Single atoms are the ultimate minimum size limit for catalysts. Graphene, as an exciting, ultimately thin (one atom thick) material can be imaged in a transmission electron microscope with relatively few imaging artefacts. Here, we directly observe the behavior of single Cr atoms in graphene mono- and di-vacancies and, more importantly, at graphene edges. Similar studies at graphene edges with other elemental atoms, with the exception of Fe, show catalytic etching of graphene. Fe atoms have been shown to both etch and grow graphene. In contrast, Cr atoms are only observed to induce graphene growth. Complementary theoretical calculations illuminate the differences between Fe and Cr, and confirm single Cr atoms as superior catalysts for sp(2) carbon growth.
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