Search Results
High-Quality Graphene Using Boudouard Reaction
2022, Grebenko, Artem K., Krasnikov, Dmitry V., Bubis, Anton V., Stolyarov, Vasily S., Vyalikh, Denis V., Makarova, Anna A., Fedorov, Alexander, Aitkulova, Aisuluu, Alekseeva, Alena A., Gilshtein, Evgeniia, Bedran, Zakhar, Shmakov, Alexander N., Alyabyeva, Liudmila, Mozhchil, Rais N., Ionov, Andrey M., Gorshunov, Boris P., Laasonen, Kari, Podzorov, Vitaly, Nasibulin, Albert G.
Following the game-changing high-pressure CO (HiPco) process that established the first facile route toward large-scale production of single-walled carbon nanotubes, CO synthesis of cm-sized graphene crystals of ultra-high purity grown during tens of minutes is proposed. The Boudouard reaction serves for the first time to produce individual monolayer structures on the surface of a metal catalyst, thereby providing a chemical vapor deposition technique free from molecular and atomic hydrogen as well as vacuum conditions. This approach facilitates inhibition of the graphene nucleation from the CO/CO2 mixture and maintains a high growth rate of graphene seeds reaching large-scale monocrystals. Unique features of the Boudouard reaction coupled with CO-driven catalyst engineering ensure not only suppression of the second layer growth but also provide a simple and reliable technique for surface cleaning. Aside from being a novel carbon source, carbon monoxide ensures peculiar modification of catalyst and in general opens avenues for breakthrough graphene-catalyst composite production.
Dynamics of graphene growth on a metal surface: A time-dependent photoemission study
2009, Grüneis, Alexander, Kummer, Kurt, Vyalikh, Denis V.
Applying time-dependent photoemission we unravel the graphene growth process on a metallic surface by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Graphene CVD growth is in stark contrast to the standard growth process of two-dimensional films because it is self-limiting and stops as soon as a monolayer of graphene has been synthesized. Most importantly, a novel phase of metastable graphene was discovered that is characterized by permanent and simultaneous construction and deconstruction. The high quality and large area graphene flakes are characterized by angle-resolved photoemission, proving that they are indeed monolayer and cover the whole 1×1 cm Ni(111) substrate. These findings are of high relevance to the intensive search for reliable synthesis methods for large graphene flakes of controlled layer number.
Robust Magnetic Order Upon Ultrafast Excitation of an Antiferromagnet
2022, Lee, Sang‐Eun, Windsor, Yoav William, Fedorov, Alexander, Kliemt, Kristin, Krellner, Cornelius, Schüßler‐Langeheine, Christian, Pontius, Niko, Wolf, Martin, Atxitia, Unai, Vyalikh, Denis V., Rettig, Laurenz
The ultrafast manipulation of magnetic order due to optical excitation is governed by the intricate flow of energy and momentum between the electron, lattice, and spin subsystems. While various models are commonly employed to describe these dynamics, a prominent example being the microscopic three temperature model (M3TM), systematic, quantitative comparisons to both the dynamics of energy flow and magnetic order are scarce. Here, an M3TM was applied to the ultrafast magnetic order dynamics of the layered antiferromagnet GdRh2Si2. The femtosecond dynamics of electronic temperature, surface ferromagnetic order, and bulk antiferromagnetic order were explored at various pump fluences employing time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and time-resolved resonant magnetic soft X-ray diffraction, respectively. After optical excitation, both the surface ferromagnetic order and the bulk antiferromagnetic order dynamics exhibit two-step demagnetization behaviors with two similar timescales (<1 ps, ∼10 ps), indicating a strong exchange coupling between localized 4f and itinerant conduction electrons. Despite a good qualitative agreement, the M3TM predicts larger demagnetization than the experimental observation, which can be phenomenologically described by a transient, fluence-dependent increased Néel temperature. The results indicate that effects beyond a mean-field description have to be considered for a quantitative description of ultrafast magnetic order dynamics.
A curious interplay in the films of N-heterocyclic carbene Pt II complexes upon deposition of alkali metals
2016, Makarova, Anna A., Grachova, Elena V., Niedzialek, Dorota, Solomatina, Anastasia I., Sonntag, Simon, Fedorov, Alexander V., Vilkov, Oleg Yu., Neudachina, Vera S., Laubschat, Clemens, Tunik, Sergey P., Vyalikh, Denis V.
The recently synthesized series of Pt II complexes containing cyclometallating (phenylpyridine or benzoquinoline) and N-heterocyclic carbene ligands possess intriguing structures, topologies, and light emitting properties. Here, we report curious physicochemical interactions between in situ PVD-grown films of a typical representative of the aforementioned Pt II complex compounds and Li, Na, K and Cs atoms. Based on a combination of detailed core-level photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum-chemical calculations at the density functional theory level, we found that the deposition of alkali atoms onto the molecular film leads to unusual redistribution of electron density: essential modification of nitrogen sites, reduction of the coordination Pt II centre to Pt 0 and decrease of electron density on the bromine atoms. A possible explanation for this is formation of a supramolecular system "Pt complex-alkali metal ion" the latter is supported by restoration of the system to the initial state upon subsequent oxygen treatment. The discovered properties highlight a considerable potential of the Pt II complexes for a variety of biomedical, sensing, chemical, and electronic applications.
Unexpected differences between surface and bulk spectroscopic and implied Kondo properties of heavy fermion CeRh2Si2
2020, Poelchen, Georg, Schulz, Susanne, Mende, Max, Güttler, Monika, Generalov, Alexander, Fedorov, Alexander V., Caroca-Canales, Nubia, Geibel, Christoph, Kliemt, Kristin, Krellner, Cornelius, Danzenbächer, Steffen, Usachov, Dmitry Y., Dudin, Pavel, Antonov, Victor N., Allen, James W., Laubschat, Clemens, Kummer, Kurt, Kucherenko, Yuri, Vyalikh, Denis V.
Ultra-violet angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (UV-ARPES) was used to explore the temperature dependence of the Ce-4f spectral responses for surface and bulk in the antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice CeRh2Si2. Spectra were taken from Ce- and Si-terminated surfaces in a wide temperature range, and reveal characteristic 4f patterns for weakly (surface) and strongly (bulk) hybridized Ce, respectively. The temperature dependence of the Fermi level peak differs strongly for both cases implying that the effective Kondo temperature at the surface and bulk can be rather distinct. The greatly reduced crystal–electric-field (CEF) splitting at the surface gives reason to believe that the surface may exhibit a larger effective Kondo temperature because of a higher local-moment effective degeneracy. Further, the hybridization processes could strongly affect the 4f peak intensity at the Fermi level. We derived the k-resolved dispersion of the Kondo peak which is also found to be distinct due to different sets of itinerant bands to which the 4f states of surface and bulk Ce are coupled. Overall our study brings into reach the ultimate goal of quantitatively testing many-body theories that link spectroscopy and transport properties, for both the bulk and the surface, separately. It also allows for a direct insight into the broader problem of Kondo lattices with two different local-moment sublattices, providing some understanding of why the cross-talking between the two Kondo effects is weak.