We use in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to investigate intercalation of the ferromagnetic 3d metals Ni and Fe underneath a graphene monolayer on Rh(111). Upon thermal annealing of graphene/Rh(111) with the deposited metal on top, we observe the formation of epitaxial monatomic nanoislands grown pseudomorphically on Rh(111) and covered by graphene. The size and shape of intercalated nanoislands is strongly influenced by the local spatial variation of the graphene-Rh bonding strength. In particular, the side length of the intercalated nanoislands shows maxima around discrete values imposed by the periodicity of the graphene moiré. Intercalation can be performed efficiently and without any visible damage of the graphene overlayer in the studied temperature range between 670 and 870 K. We identify the main intercalation path to be via diffusion through pre-existing lattice defects in graphene, accompanied by the second mechanism which is based on the material diffusion via metal-generated defects followed by the defect healing of the graphene lattice. We deem these graphene-capped and sharply confined ferromagnetic nanoislands interesting in the fields of spintronics and nanomagnetism.

We report the structural and electronic properties of an artificial graphene/Ni (111) (111), and mildly corrugated graphene on Ir(111), allows to disentangle the two key properties which lead to the observed increased interaction, namely lattice matching and electronic interaction. Although the latter determines the strength of the hybridization, we find an important influence of the local carbon configuration resulting from the lattice mismatch.

Addressing the multitude of electronic phenomena theoretically predicted for confined graphene structures requires appropriate in situ fabrication procedures yielding graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) with well-defined geometries and accessible electronic properties. Here, we present a simple strategy to fabricate quasi-free-standing GNFs of variable sizes, performing temperature programmed growth of graphene flakes on the Ir(111) surface and subsequent intercalation of gold. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we show that epitaxial GNFs on a perfectly ordered Au(111) surface are formed while maintaining an unreconstructed, singly hydrogen-terminated edge structure, as confirmed by the accompanying density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Using tip-induced lateral displacement of GNFs, we demonstrate that GNFs on Au(111) are to a large extent decoupled from the Au(111) substrate. The direct accessibility of the electronic states of a single GNF is demonstrated upon analysis of the quasiparticle interference patterns obtained by low-temperature STM. These findings open up an interesting playground for diverse investigations of graphene nanostructures with possible implications for device fabrication.

We investigate the electronic properties of graphene nanoflakes on Ag(111) and Au(111) surfaces by means of scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy as well as density functional theory calculations. Quasiparticle interference mapping allows for the clear distinction of substrate-derived contributions in scattering and those originating from graphene nanoflakes. Our analysis shows that the parabolic dispersion of Au(111) and Ag(111) surface states remains unchanged with the band minimum shifted to higher energies for the regions of the metal surface covered by graphene, reflecting a rather weak interaction between graphene and the metal surface. The analysis of graphene-related scattering on single nanoflakes yields a linear dispersion relation E(k), with a slight p-doping for graphene/Au(111) and a larger n-doping for graphene/Ag(111). The obtained experimental data (doping level, band dispersions around EF, and Fermi velocity) are very well reproduced within DFT-D2/D3 approaches, which provide a detailed insight into the site-specific interaction between graphene and the underlying substrate.

Using a combination of photoemission and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), we characterize the growth and the electronic as well as magnetic structure of cobalt layers intercalated in between graphene and Ir(111). We demonstrate that magnetic ordering exists beyond one monolayer intercalation, and determine the Co orbital and spin magnetic moments. XMCD from the carbon edge shows an induced magnetic moment in the graphene layer, oriented antiparallel to that of cobalt. The XMCD experimental data are discussed in comparison to our results of first-principles electronic structure calculations. It is shown that good agreement between theory and experiment for the Co magnetic moments can be achieved when the local-spin-density approximation plus the Hubbard U (LSDA + U ) is used.