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Bandgap opening in graphene induced by patterned hydrogen adsorption

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 315–319 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Graphene, a single layer of graphite, has recently attracted considerable attention owing to its remarkable electronic and structural properties and its possible applications in many emerging areas such as graphene-based electronic devices1. The charge carriers in graphene behave like massless Dirac fermions, and graphene shows ballistic charge transport, turning it into an ideal material for circuit fabrication2,3. However, graphene lacks a bandgap around the Fermi level, which is the defining concept for semiconductor materials and essential for controlling the conductivity by electronic means. Theory predicts that a tunable bandgap may be engineered by periodic modulations of the graphene lattice4,5,6, but experimental evidence for this is so far lacking. Here, we demonstrate the existence of a bandgap opening in graphene, induced by the patterned adsorption of atomic hydrogen onto the Moiré superlattice positions of graphene grown on an Ir(111) substrate.

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Figure 1: Observation of a gap opening in hydrogenated graphene.
Figure 2: STM images of hydrogen adsorbate structures following and preserving the Moiré pattern of graphene on Ir(111).
Figure 3: DFT calculations of hydrogen adsorbate structures on graphene on Ir(111).
Figure 4: Hydrogen adsorbate structures, calculated band structures and bandgaps.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council under ERC starting grant HPAH, no. 208344, The Danish Council for Independent Research and the Lundbeck Foundation. M.B. thanks the University of Trieste and Aarhus University (AU) for supporting his stay at AU. The research leading to these results has received financial support from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 226716.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy and Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

    Richard Balog, Bjarke Jørgensen, Louis Nilsson, Mie Andersen, Erik Lægsgaard, Flemming Besenbacher, Bjørk Hammer & Liv Hornekær

  2. Institute for Storage Ring Facilities and Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

    Emile Rienks & Philip Hofmann

  3. Physics Department and CENMAT, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 2, 34127 Trieste, Italy

    Marco Bianchi & Alessandro Baraldi

  4. Laboratorio TASC INFM-CNR, AREA Science Park, 34012 Trieste, S.S. 14 km 163.5, Italy

    Mattia Fanetti & Alessandro Baraldi

  5. Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., S.S. 14 km 163.5, 34012 Trieste, Italy

    Silvano Lizzit

  6. Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences (020), RS-11001 Belgrade, PO Box 522, Serbia

    Zeljko Sljivancanin

  7. Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, Aalborg University, and Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), 9220, Aalborg East, Denmark

    Thomas G. Pedersen

Authors
  1. Richard Balog
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Contributions

P.H. and L.H. planned the project; R.B., B.J., L.N., S.L., P.H. and L.H. designed the experiments; A.B. and S.L. supplied the procedure for graphene preparation; R.B., B.J., E.R., M.B., M.F., S.L. and P.H. carried out the UPS measurements; R.B., L.N. and M.A. carried out the STM measurements; E.L. provided technical support for the STM measurements; Z.S. and T.G.P. carried out the calculations; R.B., B.J., L.N., M.A., E.R., S.L., B.H., T.G.P., P.H. and L.H. analysed the data and interpreted the results; R.B., P.H. and L.H. wrote the manuscript; A.B., E.L., F.B. and B.H. advised on the project; all authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Liv Hornekær.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Balog, R., Jørgensen, B., Nilsson, L. et al. Bandgap opening in graphene induced by patterned hydrogen adsorption. Nature Mater 9, 315–319 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2710

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