Stabilizing graphene-based organometallic sandwich structures through defect engineering

Pratibha Dev and Thomas L. Reinecke
Phys. Rev. B 91, 035436 – Published 26 January 2015

Abstract

In this theoretical work, we propose a chemical route to creating stable benzene-transition metal-graphene sandwich structures. The binding energy of the transition metal to graphene is enhanced through adsorption at appropriate defects, immobilizing the metal onto the graphene web. Capping the metal with a benzene ring further stabilizes the structure. The stability and the magnetic properties of these composite structures vary for different defects such as vacancies and nitrogen substitutionals in graphene. The proposed complexes have high cohesive energies and are either metallic or are small-band-gap semiconductors. Several of the proposed structures also have large spin polarization energies that make them suitable for use as nanomagnets in ambient conditions. This work also sheds light on the experimental results in the field where the sandwich structures may have been successfully created. We show that defect engineering is a viable option for creating designer, graphene-based structures that may play an important role in fields as diverse as spintronics, nanoelectronics, hydrogen storage, and catalysis.

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  • Received 29 July 2014
  • Revised 13 November 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.035436

©2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Pratibha Dev* and Thomas L. Reinecke

  • Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375, USA

  • *NRC postdoc residing at Code 6877 Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375, USA.

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Issue

Vol. 91, Iss. 3 — 15 January 2015

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