title: Role of Cooperative Interactions in the Intercalation of Heteroatoms between Graphene and a Metal Substrate.
abstract: The intercalation of heteroatoms between graphene and a metal substrate has been studied intensively over the past few years, due to its effect on the graphene properties, and as a method to create vertical heterostructures. Various intercalation processes have been reported with different combinations of heteroatoms and substrates. Here we study Si intercalation between graphene and Ru(0001). We elucidate the role of cooperative interactions between hetero-atoms, graphene, and substrate. By combining scanning tunneling microscopy with density functional theory, the intercalation process is confirmed to consist of four key steps, involving creation of defects, migration of heteroatoms, self-repairing of graphene, and growth of an intercalated monolayer. Both theory and experiments indicate that this mechanism applies also to other combinations of hetero-atoms and substrates.
authors.affiliation: †Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Geng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: †Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: †Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lida
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: †Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: †Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: †Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wenyan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: †Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shixuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Physics and Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.affiliation: §Cambridge Graphene Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0FA, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.affiliation: †Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hong-Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Gao