Browsing by Subject "81.05.ue"
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Item Open Access Effects of static charging and exfoliation of layered crystals(American Physical Society, 2012) Topsakal, M.; Çıracı, SalimUsing a first-principle plane-wave method we investigate the effects of static charging on the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of suspended, single-layer graphene, graphane, fluorographene, BN, and MoS 2 in a honeycomb structure. The limitations of periodic boundary conditions in the treatment of negatively charged layers are clarified. Upon positive charging, the band gaps between the conduction and valence bands increase, but the single-layer nanostructures become metallic owing to the Fermi level dipping below the maximum of valence band. Moreover, their bond lengths increase, leading to phonon softening. As a result, the frequencies of Raman active modes are lowered. A high level of positive charging leads to structural instabilities in single-layer nanostructures, since their specific phonon modes attain imaginary frequencies. Similarly, excess positive charge is accumulated at the outermost layers of metallized BN and MoS 2 sheets comprising a few layers. Once the charging exceeds a threshold value, the outermost layers are exfoliated. Charge relocation and repulsive force generation are in compliance with classical theories. © 2012 American Physical Society.Item Open Access Graphene coatings: an efficient protection from oxidation(American Physical Society, 2012) Topsakal, M.; Şahin, H.; Çıracı, SalimWe demonstrate that graphene coating can provide efficient protection from oxidation by posing a high-energy barrier to the path of oxygen atom, which could have penetrated from the top of the graphene to the reactive surface underneath. A graphene bilayer, which blocks the diffusion of oxygen with a relatively higher energy barrier, provides even better protection from oxidation. While an oxygen molecule is weakly bound to a bare graphene surface and hence becomes rather inactive, it can easily dissociate into two oxygen atoms adsorbed to low-coordinated carbon atoms at the edges of a vacancy. For these oxygen atoms the oxidation barrier is reduced and hence the protection from oxidation provided by graphene coatings is weakened. Our predictions obtained from the state-of-the-art first-principles calculations of the electronic structure, phonon density of states, and reaction path will unravel how graphene can be used as a corrosion-resistant coating and guide further studies aimed at developing more efficient nanocoatings. © 2012 American Physical Society.Item Open Access Perpendicular growth of carbon chains on graphene from first-principles(American Physical Society, 2011) Ataca, C.; Çıracı, SalimBased on first-principles calculations we predict a peculiar growth process, where carbon adatoms adsorbed to graphene readily diffuse above room temperature and nucleate segments of linear carbon chains attached to graphene. These chains grow longer on graphene through insertion of carbon atoms one at a time from the bottom end and display a self-assembling behavior. Eventually, two allotropes of carbon, namely graphene and cumulene, are combined to exhibit important functionalities. The segments of carbon chains on graphene become chemically active sites to bind foreign atoms or large molecules. When bound to the ends of carbon chains, transition metal atoms, Ti, Co, and Au, attribute a magnetic ground state to graphene sheets and mediate stable contacts with interconnects. We showed that carbon chains can grow also on single-wall carbon nanotubes. © 2011 American Physical Society.Item Open Access Structural, mechanical, and electronic properties of defect-patterned graphene nanomeshes from first principles(American Physical Society, 2011) Şahin, H.; Çıracı, SalimMotivated by the state of the art method for fabricating high-density periodic nanoscale defects in graphene, the structural, mechanical, and electronic properties of defect-patterned graphene nanomeshes including diverse morphologies of adatoms and holes are investigated by means of first-principles calculations within density functional theory. It is found that various patterns of adatom groups yield metallic or semimetallic, even semiconducting, behavior and specific patterns can be in a magnetic state. Even though the patterns of single adatoms dramatically alter the electronic structure of graphene, adatom groups of specific symmetry can maintain the Dirac fermion behavior. Nanoholes forming nanomesh are also investigated. Depending on the interplay between the repeat periodicity and the geometry of the hole, the nanomesh can be in different states ranging from metallic to semiconducting including semimetallic states with the bands crossing linearly at the Fermi level. We showed that forming periodically repeating superstructures in a graphene matrix can develop a promising technique for engineering nanomaterials with desired electronic and magnetic properties.