Large area tunable arrays of graphene nanodots fabricated using diblock copolymer micelles

Nanostructured graphenes such as nanoribbons, nanomeshes, and nanodots have attracted a great deal of attention in relation to graphene-based semiconductor devices. The block copolymer micellar approach is a promising bottom-up technique for generating large area nanostructures of various materials without using sophisticated electron-beam lithography. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of an array of graphene nanodots with tunable size and inter-distance with the utilization of a monolayer of diblock copolymer micelles. Au nanoparticles were synthesized in the micellar cores and effectively worked as shielding nanostructures in generating graphene nanodots by oxygen plasma etching. We also controlled the radius and inter-distance of graphene nanodots simply through the molecular weight of the copolymers.