Heterostructures through Divergent Edge Reconstruction in Nitrogen-Doped Segmented Graphene Nanoribbons

Atomically precise engineering of defined segments within individual graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) represents a key enabling technology for the development of advanced functional device architectures. Here, the bottom-up synthesis of chevron GNRs decorated with reactive functional groups derived from 9-methyl-9H-carbazole is reported. Scanning tunneling and non-contact atomic force microscopy reveal that a thermal activation of GNRs induces the rearrangement of the electron-rich carbazole into an electron-deficient phenanthridine. The selective chemical edge-reconstruction of carbazole-substituted chevron GNRs represents a practical strategy for the controlled fabrication of spatially defined GNR heterostructures from a single molecular precursor.