Jiao Huang

Highly curved carbon nanostructures produced by ball-milling

The formation of nanoarches or highly curled carbon nanostructures during high-energy ball-milling of graphite is reported. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy indicates that graphite sheets with a thickness of less than 10 nm (dimension along the c-axis) hold high flexibility and are highly bendable, thus forming nanoarches or highly curved nanostructures upon ball-milling. It is evident that these nanostructures are formed by bending the flat sp(2) layers directly under the mechanical deformation

Towards intrinsic magnetism of graphene sheets with irregular zigzag edges

The magnetism of graphene has remained divergent and controversial due to absence of reliable experimental results. Here we show the intrinsic magnetism of graphene edge states revealed based on unidirectional aligned graphene sheets derived from completely carbonized SiC crystals. It is found that ferromagnetism, antiferromagnetism and diamagnetism along with a probable superconductivity exist in the graphene with irregular zigzag edges. A phase diagram is constructed to show the evolution of the magnetism. The ferromagnetic ordering curie-temperature of the fundamental magnetic order unit (FMOU) is 820 ± 80 K. The antiferromagnetic ordering Neel temperature of the FMOUs belonging to different sublattices is about 54 ± 2 K. The diamagnetism is similar to that of graphite and can be well described by the Kotosonovs equation. Our experimental results provide new evidences to clarify the controversial experimental phenomena observed in graphene and contribute to a deeper insight into the nature of magnetism in graphene based system.

Bipolar Carrier Transfer Channels in Epitaxial Graphene/SiC Core–Shell Heterojunction for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Bipolar carrier transfer channels exist in the in situ epitaxial-graphene-wrapped 6H-SiC core-shell heterojunction due to the self-doping of graphene. Due to the special interface structure and high graphene quality, this material exhibits significant photocatalytic enhancement. Its hydrogen evolution efficiency is greater than that of the Pt/SiC composite. This micrometer-sized metal-free photocatalyst exhibits an activity comparable to that of metal-based nanophotocatalysts.

Significant enhancement in photocatalytic activity of high quality SiC/graphene core–shell heterojunction with optimal structural parameters

Structure and photocatalytic activity of high quality graphene covered SiC powder (GCSP) composites as metal-free photocatalysts with different sizes and graphene layer numbers are investigated. The results indicate that the GCSP covered with 4–9 layers of graphene reveal outstanding photocatalytic activity enhancement among the other graphene layer numbers. Moreover, it is found that smaller particles have higher activity than the larger ones and more than 730% improvement is achieved by the GCSP derived from 0.5 μm SiC powder relative to the pristine SiC powder, which is more than 6 times of that of photoreduced graphene oxide/SiC composite. Our results demonstrate that it is the high quality graphene and the perfect heterojunction interface between the graphene and SiC particles render the SiC/graphene core–shell heterojunction an outstanding photocatalytic activity, as well as potential for a low cost and metal-free photocatalyst.

A comparison of the field emission characteristics of vertically aligned graphene sheets grown on different SiC substrates

The field emission (FE) properties of vertically aligned graphene sheets (VAGSs) grown on different SiC substrates are reported. The VAGSs grown on nonpolar SiC (10-10) substrate show an ordered alignment with the graphene basal plane-parallel to each other, and show better FE features, with a lower turn-on field and a larger field enhancement factor. The VAGSs grown on polar SiC (000-1) substrate reveal a random petaloid-shaped arrangement and stable current emission over 8 hours with a maximum emission current fluctuation of only 4%. The reasons behind the differing FE characteristics of the VAGSs on different SiC substrates are analyzed and discussed.

The correlation of epitaxial graphene properties and morphology of SiC (0001)

The electronic properties of epitaxial graphene (EG) on SiC (0001) depend sensitively on the surface morphology of SiC substrate. Here, 2–3 layers of graphene were grown on on-axis 6H-SiC with different step densities realized through controlling growth temperature and ambient pressure. We show that epitaxial graphene on SiC (0001) with low step density and straight step edge possesses fewer point defects laying mostly on step edges and higher carrier mobility. A relationship between step density and EG mobility is established. The linear scan of Raman spectra combined with the atomic force microscopy morphology images revealed that the Raman fingerprint peaks are nearly the same on terraces, but shift significantly while cross step edges, suggesting the graphene is not homogeneous in strain and carrier concentration over terraces and step edges of substrates. Thus, control morphology of epitaxial graphene on SiC (0001) is a simple and effective method to pursue optimal route for high quality graphene and...

Identification of dominant scattering mechanism in epitaxial graphene on SiC

A scheme of identification of scattering mechanisms in epitaxial graphene (EG) on SiC substrate is developed and applied to three EG samples grown on SiC (0001), (11 (2) over bar0), and (10 (1) over bar0) substrates. Hall measurements combined with defect detection technique enable us to evaluate the individual contributions to the carrier scatterings by defects and by substrates. It is found that the dominant scatterings can be due to either substrate or defects, dependent on the substrate orientations. The EG on SiC (11 (2) over bar0) exhibits a better control over the two major scattering mechanisms and achieves the highest mobility even with a high carrier concentration, promising for high performance graphene-based electronic devices. The method developed here will shed light on major aspects in governing carrier transport in EG to harness it effectively

Anisotropic quantum transport in a network of vertically aligned graphene sheets

Novel anisotropic quantum transport was observed in a network of vertically aligned graphene sheets (VAGSs), which can be regarded as composed of plenty of quasi-parallel, nearly intrinsic, freestanding monolayers of graphene. When a magnetic field was perpendicular to most graphene sheets, magnetoresistance (MR) curves showed a weak localization (WL) effect at low field and a maximum value at a critical field ascribed to diffusive boundary scattering. While the magnetic field was parallel to the graphene sheets, the MR maximum disappeared and exhibited a transition from WL to weak antilocalization (WAL) with increasing temperature and magnetic field. Edges as atomically sharp defects are the main elastic and inelastic intervalley scattering sources, and inelastic scattering is ascribed to electron-electron intervalley scattering in the ballistic regime. This is the first time simultaneously observing WL, WAL and diffusive boundary scattering in such a macroscopic three-dimensional graphene system. These indicate the VAGS network is a robust platform for the study of the intrinsic physical properties of graphene.

A self-powered sensitive ultraviolet photodetector based on epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide*

A self-powered graphene-based photodetector with high performance is particularly useful for device miniaturization and to save energy. Here, we report a graphene/silicon carbide (SiC)-based self-powered ultraviolet photodetector that exhibits a current responsivity of 7.4 mA/W with a response frequency of over a megahertz under 325-nm laser irradiation. The built-in photovoltage of the photodetector is about four orders of magnitude higher than previously reported results for similar devices. These favorable properties are ascribed to the ingenious device design using the combined advantages of graphene and SiC, two terminal electrodes, and asymmetric light irradiation on one of the electrodes. Importantly, the photon energy is larger than the band gap of SiC. This self-powered photodetector is compatible with modern semiconductor technology and shows potential for applications in ultraviolet imaging and graphene-based integrated circuits.

Influence of defects in SiC (0001) on epitaxial graphene

Defects in silicon carbide (SiC) substrate are crucial to the properties of the epitaxial graphene (EG) grown on it. Here we report the effect of defects in SiC on the crystalline quality of EGs through comparative studies of the characteristics of the EGs grown on SiC (0001) substrates with different defect densities. It is found that EGs on high quality SiC possess regular steps on the surface of the SiC and there is no discernible D peak in its Raman spectrum. Conversely, the EG on the SiC with a high density of defects has a strong D peak, irregular stepped morphology and poor uniformity in graphene layer numbers. It is the defects in the SiC that are responsible for the irregular stepped morphology and lead to the small domain size in the EG.