Self-assembled triangular graphene nanostructures: Evidence of dual electronic response

Morphological features and nanostructures generated during SiC graphitization process

“…The predominant shape of SiC (1 × 1) nanostructures is triangular due to their growth kinetics, the other shapes are derived from the triangular one. [33] According to our experimental results and other reported works, [16,31] we propose a model for the formation and growth progression of SiC ( 1 Previous studies about graphene growth on SiC (0001) have demonstrated that Si atoms captured at the graphene/SiC interface can recrystallize into SiC clusters and two-dimensional SiC island then nucleates on the surface terraces. [34,35] C, the number of SiC (1 × 1) nanostructures gradually decreases, due to the thermal decomposition of SiC expedited at high temperature.…”

“…In the previous work, it is shown that the nanoislands and nanoholes covered with graphene can exhibit different electronic responses, and the formation of regions with different electronic responses is potentially important for high-density data storage. [16] The emergence and extension of graphene on the nanostructures will allow us to achieve the graphene nanoflakes, which may have potential applications in nanoscale spintronics and optical nanodevices. [18,19,37,38]…”

“…[15] Chagas et al detected the triangular graphene nanoholes and nanoplateaus on SiC substrates after H-atom intercalation, showed their dual electronic response, and put forward that these nanostructures have potential applications in information storage devices of two-dimensional materials. [16] The cognition about graphene nanostructures is usually based upon the vast amount of knowledge established in the past years on the graphitization process of graphene monolayer and bilayer structures, and many theoretical and experimental investigations have addressed possible applications of these nanostructures. [17][18][19] However, there is still lack of research about the generation and morphological evolution of various nanostructures all through the thermal decomposition of SiC, as well as the understanding of their thermodynamics and kinetics.…”