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Published on: September 22, 2015
Photochemical chlorination of graphene
1Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
We report the covalent functionalization of graphene by photochemical chlorination. The gas-phase photochlorination of graphene, followed by the structural transformation of the C-C bonds from sp(2) to sp(3) configuration, could remove the conducting π-bands and open up a band gap in graphene. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that chlorine is grafted to the basal plane of graphene, with about 8 atom % chlorine coverage. Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy all indicated that the photochlorinated graphene is homogeneous and nondestructive. The resistance increases over 4 orders of magnitude and a band gap appears upon photochlorination, confirmed by electrical measurements. Moreover, localized photochlorination of graphene can facilitate chemical patterning, which may offer a feasible approach to the realization of all-graphene circuits.

