title: Metal oxide nanoparticle growth on graphene via chemical activation with atomic oxygen.
abstract: Chemically interfacing the inert basal plane of graphene with other materials has limited the development of graphene-based catalysts, composite materials, and devices. Here, we overcome this limitation by chemically activating epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) using atomic oxygen. Atomic oxygen produces epoxide groups on graphene, which act as reactive nucleation sites for zinc oxide nanoparticle growth using the atomic layer deposition precursor diethyl zinc. In particular, exposure of epoxidized graphene to diethyl zinc abstracts oxygen, creating mobile species that diffuse on the surface to form metal oxide clusters. This mechanism is corroborated with a combination of scanning probe microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and density functional theory and can likely be generalized to a wide variety of related surface reactions on graphene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Johns
authors.forename: Justice M P
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alaboson
authors.forename: Sameer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patwardhan
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Ryder
authors.forename: George C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Schatz
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Hersam
mesh_terms: D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D015032:Zinc / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D010087:Oxides; D006108:Graphite; D015032:Zinc; D010100:Oxygen