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A new on-surface synthetic pathway to 5-armchair graphene nanoribbons on Cu(111) surfaces
Kewei Sun1, Penghui Ji, Haiming Zhang
1Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials &devices, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, P. R. China. hmzhang@suda.edu.cn chilf@suda.edu.cn.
Abstract:
We report a new pathway to fabricate armchair graphene nanoribbons with five carbon atoms in the cross section (5-AGNRs) on Cu(111) surfaces. Instead of using haloaromatics as precursors, the 5-AGNRs are synthesized via a surface assisted decarboxylation reaction of perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA). The on-surface decarboxylation of PTCDA can produce extended copper-perylene chains on Cu(111) that are able to transform into graphene nanoribbons after annealing at higher temperatures (ca. 630 K). Due to the low yield (ca. 20%) of GNRs upon copper extrusion, various gases are introduced to assist the transformation of the copper-perylene chains into the GNRs. Typical reducing gases (H2 and CO) and oxidizing gas (O2) are evaluated for their performance in breaking aryl-Cu bonds. This method enriches on-surface protocols for the synthesis of AGNRs using non-halogen containing precursors.
