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      The influence of edge structure on the electronic properties of graphene quantum dots and nanoribbons.

      1 ,
      Nature materials
      Springer Science and Business Media LLC

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          Abstract

          Graphene shows promise as a future material for nanoelectronics owing to its compatibility with industry-standard lithographic processing, electron mobilities up to 150 times greater than Si and a thermal conductivity twice that of diamond. The electronic structure of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and quantum dots (GQDs) has been predicted to depend sensitively on the crystallographic orientation of their edges; however, the influence of edge structure has not been verified experimentally. Here, we use tunnelling spectroscopy to show that the electronic structure of GNRs and GQDs with 2-20 nm lateral dimensions varies on the basis of the graphene edge lattice symmetry. Predominantly zigzag-edge GQDs with 7-8 nm average dimensions are metallic owing to the presence of zigzag edge states. GNRs with a higher fraction of zigzag edges exhibit a smaller energy gap than a predominantly armchair-edge ribbon of similar width, and the magnitudes of the measured GNR energy gaps agree with recent theoretical calculations.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Nat Mater
          Nature materials
          Springer Science and Business Media LLC
          1476-1122
          1476-1122
          Mar 2009
          : 8
          : 3
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, 405 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801-2325, USA. ritter@engineering.uiuc.edu
          Article
          nmat2378
          10.1038/nmat2378
          19219032
          3e1103dd-f6bc-4679-9755-1c99366ebfe5
          History

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