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Nitrogen‐Doped Graphitic Nanoribbons: Synthesis, Characterization, and Transport
Author(s) -
OrtizMedina Josue,
GarcíaBetancourt M. Luisa,
Jia Xiaoting,
MartínezGordillo Rafael,
PelagioFlores Miguel A.,
Swanson David,
Elías Ana Laura,
Gutiérrez Humberto R.,
GraciaEspino Eduardo,
Meunier Vincent,
Owens Jonathan,
Sumpter Bobby G.,
CruzSilva Eduardo,
RodríguezMacías Fernando J.,
LópezUrías Florentino,
MuñozSandoval Emilio,
Dresselhaus Mildred S.,
Terrones Humberto,
Terrones Mauricio
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201202947
Subject(s) - materials science , graphene nanoribbons , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , doping , zigzag , transmission electron microscopy , chemical vapor deposition , density functional theory , nanotechnology , nitrogen , graphene , chemical physics , optoelectronics , computational chemistry , chemistry , geometry , mathematics , organic chemistry
Nitrogen‐doped graphitic nanoribbons (N x ‐GNRs), synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using pyrazine as a nitrogen precursor, are reported for the first time. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) reveal that the synthesized materials are formed by multilayered corrugated GNRs, which in most cases exhibit the formation of curved graphene edges (loops). This suggests that during growth, nitrogen atoms promote loop formation; undoped GNRs do not form loops at their edges. Transport measurements on individual pure GNRs exhibit a linear I – V (current‐voltage) behavior, whereas N x ‐GNRs show reduced current responses following a semiconducting‐like behavior, which becomes more prominent for high nitrogen concentrations. To better understand the experimental findings, electron density of states (DOS), quantum conductance for nitrogen‐doped zigzag and armchair single‐layer GNRs are calculated for different N doping concentrations using density functional theory (DFT) and non‐equilibrium Green functions. These calculations confirm the crucial role of nitrogen atoms in the transport properties, confirming that the nonlinear I – V curves are due to the presence of nitrogen atoms within the N x ‐GNRs lattice that act as scattering sites. These characteristic N x ‐GNRs transport properties could be advantageous in the fabrication of electronic devices including sensors in which metal‐like undoped GNRs are unsuitable.