title: Self-Assembly of Graphene Nanoblisters Sealed to a Bare Metal Surface.
abstract: The possibility to intercalate noble gas atoms below epitaxial graphene monolayers coupled with the instability at high temperature of graphene on the surface of certain metals has been exploited to produce Ar-filled graphene nanosized blisters evenly distributed on the bare Ni(111) surface. We have followed in real time the self-assembling of the nanoblisters during the thermal annealing of the Gr/Ni(111) interface loaded with Ar and characterized their morphology and structure at the atomic scale. The nanoblisters contain Ar aggregates compressed at high pressure arranged below the graphene monolayer skin that is decoupled from the Ni substrate and sealed only at the periphery through stable C-Ni bonds. Their in-plane truncated triangular shapes are driven by the crystallographic directions of the Ni surface. The nonuniform strain revealed along the blister profile is explained by the inhomogeneous expansion of the flexible graphene lattice that adjusts to envelop the Ar atom stacks.
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISC Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi , Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Larciprete
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISM Istituto di Struttura della Materia , Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Colonna
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISM Istituto di Struttura della Materia , Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ronci
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISM Istituto di Struttura della Materia , Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Flammini
authors.affiliation: Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. , AREA Science Park, S.S. 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lacovig
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Materials Physics , Atomistilor 105b, 077125 Magurele-Ilfov, Romania.
authors.forename: Nicoleta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Apostol
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Calabria , via ponte Bucci 31/C, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Politano
authors.affiliation: Physikdepartment E20, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Feulner
authors.affiliation: Physikdepartment E20, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.|Department of Chemical Physics, Fritz-Haber Institut , 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Dietrich
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Menzel
authors.affiliation: Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. , AREA Science Park, S.S. 14 km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lizzit
keywords: Ar intercalation; Graphene; STM; XPS; nanoblister; nickel