Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 4, 2026

Fabrication of Gate-tunable Graphene Devices for Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Studies with Coulomb Impurities
Published on: July 24, 2015
Atomic mechanism of strong interactions at the graphene/sapphire interface
Zhipeng Dou1,2, Zhaolong Chen3, Ning Li1,4
1Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Abstract:
For atomically thin two-dimensional materials, interfacial effects may dominate the entire response of devices, because most of the atoms are in the interface/surface. Graphene/sapphire has great application in electronic devices and semiconductor thin-film growth, but the nature of this interface is largely unknown. Here we find that the sapphire surface has a strong interaction with some of the carbon atoms in graphene to form a C-O-Al configuration, indicating that the interface interaction is no longer a simple van der Waals interaction. In addition, the structural relaxation of sapphire near the interface is significantly suppressed and very different from that of a bare sapphire surface. Such an interfacial C-O-Al bond is formed during graphene growth at high temperature. Our study provides valuable insights into understanding the electronic structures of graphene on sapphire and remote control of epitaxy growth of thin films by using a graphene-sapphire substrate.
Related Concept Videos
Network Covalent Solids
To break or to melt a covalent network solid, covalent bonds must be broken. Because covalent bonds are relatively strong, covalent network solids are typically...
Protein-protein Interfaces
Chemical Bonds
Atoms participate in a chemical bond formation to acquire a completed valence-shell electron configuration similar to that of the noble gas nearest to it in atomic number. Ionic, covalent, and metallic bonds are some of the important types of chemical bonds. Bond energy and bond length determine the strength of a chemical bond.
Types of Chemical Bonds
An ionic bond is formed due to electrostatic attraction between cations and anions. Often, the ions are formed by the transfer of electrons...
Valence Bond Theory
Valence Bond Theory
Van der Waals Interactions

