title: Polymer brushes on graphene.
abstract: A critical bottleneck for the widespread use of single layer graphene is the absence of a facile method of chemical modification which does not diminish the outstanding properties of the two-dimensional sp(2) network. Here, we report on the direct chemical modification of graphene by photopolymerization with styrene. We demonstrate that photopolymerization occurs at existing defect sites and that there is no detectable disruption of the basal plane conjugation of graphene. This method thus offers a route to define graphene functionality without degrading its electronic properties. Furthermore, we show that photopolymerization with styrene results in self-organized intercalative growth and delamination of few layer graphene. Under these reaction conditions, we find that a range of other vinyl monomers exhibits no reactivity with graphene. However, we demonstrate an alternative route by which the surface reactivity can be precisely tuned, and these monomers can be locally grafted via electron-beam-induced carbon deposition on the graphene surface.
authors.affiliation: Walter Schottky Institut and Physik Department, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Marin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Steenackers
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gigler
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Deubel
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seifert
authors.forename: Lucas H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.forename: Candy Haley Yi Xuan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Kian Ping
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Loh
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Garrido
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stutzmann
authors.forename: Ian D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Sharp
mesh_terms: D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D058105:Polymerization; D020058:Styrene / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D020058:Styrene; D006108:Graphite; D003300:Copper