Dr. Rosanna Larciprete

Istitute for Complex Systems

Rome, Italy

Among other graphene/metals systems,  Gr supported on Ni(111) raises a peculiar interest since on one hand the strong interaction between the metal and the carbon overlayer  due to the matching of the two surface lattice parameters is sometime believed to ensure a high chemical interface stability. On the other the strong catalytic activity of Ni integrated with the peculiar properties of graphene might  provide the Gr/Ni system with unexpected chemical reactivity. Our recent results  demonstrate that in spite of the strong interaction between Gr and Ni(111)   it is possible to effectively intercalate  oxygen below  a complete Gr monolayer epitaxial on the Ni(111) substrate [1]. The intercalation initiates from domains which are rotated with respect to the main orientation of the Ni crystal and progresses until a thin NiO layer is formed. Photoelectron diffraction experiments revealed that graphene domains not aligned with the Ni substrate are the first to be intercalated with oxygen and are preferential regions under which the oxygen is retained during the deintercalation. Concerning the intriguing chemical reactivity of the  Gr/Ni(111) interface, we have recently shown that it can successfully promote the conversion of water into hydrogen [2].  The relevance of these results resides in the peculiar possibility to use the Gr/Ni(111) interface for energy-related applications.

[1] L. Bignardi et al., 2D Materials 4 (2017) 025106

[2] A. Politano et al., ACS Nano 10 (2016), 4543-4549    

Host: Associate Professor Liv Hornekær, iNANO and Dept. of Physics and Astronomy