Chemical stability of zigzag edges in carbon nanostructures
DIPC Seminars
- Speaker
-
Dimas G. de Oteyza, Centro de Investigación en Nanomateriales y Nanotecnología (CINN, CSIC-UNIVOVI-PA)
- When
-
2022/03/17
13:00 - Place
- DIPC Community Seminars, Donostia International Physics Center
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**DIPC Community Seminars**
Carbon nanostructures with zigzag edges exhibit unique properties with
exciting potential applications. However, we show here that such
nanostructures are often unstable under ambient conditions even if they
display a predominantly closed-shell character. In fact, exemplified with
narrow chiral graphene nanoribbons (chGNRs), we show how low pressures of pure
oxygen gas readily oxidize the ribbons in spite of their predominantly closed-
shell character. The oxidation has dramatically disruptive effects on their
electronic properties, which severely jeopardizes their potential
applicability. That is, the lack of stability is a barrier that must be
surmounted to allow for a scalable exploitation of this type of materials. We
prove the viability of chemical protection/deprotection strategies for this
aim on the same chGNRs. Upon hydrogenation, the chGNRs survive an exposure to
air, after which they are easily converted back to their original structure
via annealing. We also approach the problem from another angle. Determination
of the most reactive sites and of the nature of the main oxidation products
allowed us synthesizing a chemically stable oxidized form of the chGNRs that
can be subsequently converted to the pristine hydrocarbon form via
hydrogenation and annealing. These findings can be extrapolated also to other
carbon nanostructures with zigzag edges and may open new doors toward their
integration in devices.
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