title: Revealing the Electronic Structure of Silicon Intercalated Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons by Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy.
abstract: The electronic properties of graphene nanoribbons grown on metal substrates are significantly masked by the ones of the supporting metal surface. Here, we introduce a novel approach to access the frontier states of armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs). The in situ intercalation of Si at the AGNR/Au(111) interface through surface alloying suppresses the strong contribution of the Au(111) surface state and allows for an unambiguous determination of the frontier electronic states of both wide and narrow band gap AGNRs. First-principles calculations provide insight into substrate induced screening effects, which result in a width-dependent band gap reduction for substrate-supported AGNRs. The strategy reported here provides a unique opportunity to elucidate the electronic properties of various kinds of graphene nanomaterials supported on metal substrates.
authors.affiliation: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Okan
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8634-8849
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Deniz
authors.affiliation: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8644-3766
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research , Ackermannweg 10, D-55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dumslaff
authors.affiliation: Chair of Molecular Functional Materials, Department of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden , Mommsenstrasse 4, D-01062 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Xinliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research , Ackermannweg 10, D-55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Akimitsu
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3625-522X
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Narita
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research , Ackermannweg 10, D-55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6630-8786
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Müllen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , Troy, New York 12180, United States.
authors.forename: Neerav
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kharche
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , Troy, New York 12180, United States.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Meunier
authors.affiliation: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.|Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern , Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fasel
authors.affiliation: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5729-5354
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ruffieux
keywords: Graphene nanoribbon; density functional theory; intercalation; scanning tunneling spectroscopy; screening; surface alloying