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Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Fabrication of Gate-tunable Graphene Devices for Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Studies with Coulomb Impurities
Published on: July 24, 2015
Atomic-scale control of graphene magnetism by using hydrogen atoms
Héctor González-Herrero1, José M Gómez-Rodríguez2, Pierre Mallet3
1Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain. Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
Isolated hydrogen atoms absorbed on graphene are predicted to induce magnetic moments. Here we demonstrate that the adsorption of a single hydrogen atom on graphene induces a magnetic moment characterized by a ~20-millielectron volt spin-split state at the Fermi energy. Our scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments, complemented by first-principles calculations, show that such a spin-polarized state is essentially localized on the carbon sublattice opposite to the one where the hydrogen atom is chemisorbed. This atomically modulated spin texture, which extends several nanometers away from the hydrogen atom, drives the direct coupling between the magnetic moments at unusually long distances. By using the STM tip to manipulate hydrogen atoms with atomic precision, it is possible to tailor the magnetism of selected graphene regions.
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