Incorporating heteroatoms into the graphene lattice may be used to tailor its electronic, mechanical and chemical properties, although directly observed substitutions have thus far been limited to incidental Si impurities and P, N and B dopants introduced using low-energy ion implantation. We present here the heaviest impurity to date, namely Ge ions implanted into monolayer graphene. Although sample contamination remains an issue, atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging and quantitative image simulations show that Ge can either directly substitute single atoms, bonding to three carbon neighbors in a buckled out-of-plane configuration, or occupy an in-plane position in a divacancy. First-principles molecular dynamics provides further atomistic insight into the implantation process, revealing a strong chemical effect that enables implantation below the graphene displacement threshold energy. Our results demonstrate that heavy atoms can be implanted into the graphene lattice, pointing a way toward advanced applications such as single-atom catalysis with graphene as the template.

SummaryMany potential applications of graphene require its precise and controllable doping with charge carriers. Being a two-dimensional material graphene is extremely sensitive to surface adsorbates, so its electronic properties can be effectively modified by deposition of different atoms and molecules. In this paper, we review two mechanisms of graphene doping by surface adsorbates, namely electronic and electrochemical doping. Although, electronic doping has been extensively studied and discussed in the literature, much less attention has been paid to electrochemical doping. This mechanism can, however, explain the doping of graphene by adsorbates for which no charge transfer is expected within the electronic doping model. In addition, electrochemical doping is in the origin of the hysteresis effects often observed in graphene-based field effect transistors when operating in the atmospheric environment.

We report an approach, named chemTEM, to follow chemical transformations at the single-molecule level with the electron beam of a transmission electron microscope (TEM) applied as both a tunable source of energy and a sub-angstrom imaging probe. Deposited on graphene, disk-shaped perchlorocoronene molecules are precluded from intermolecular interactions. This allows monomolecular transformations to be studied at the single-molecule level in real time and reveals chlorine elimination and reactive aryne formation as a key initial stage of multistep reactions initiated by the 80 keV e-beam. Under the same conditions, perchlorocoronene confined within a nanotube cavity, where the molecules are situated in very close proximity to each other, enables imaging of intermolecular reactions, starting with the Diels–Alder cycloaddition of a generated aryne, followed by rearrangement of the angular adduct to a planar polyaromatic structure and the formation of a perchlorinated zigzag nanoribbon of graphene as the final product. ChemTEM enables the entire process of polycondensation, including the formation of metastable intermediates, to be captured in a one-shot “movie”. A molecule with a similar size and shape but with a different chemical composition, octathio[8]circulene, under the same conditions undergoes another type of polycondensation via thiyl biradical generation and subsequent reaction leading to polythiophene nanoribbons with irregular edges incorporating bridging sulfur atoms. Graphene or carbon nanotubes supporting the individual molecules during chemTEM studies ensure that the elastic interactions of the molecules with the e-beam are the dominant forces that initiate and drive the reactions we image. Our ab initio DFT calculations explicitly incorporating the e-beam in the theoretical model correlate with the chemTEM observations and give a mechanism for direct control not only of the type of the reaction but also of the reaction rate. Selection of the appropriate e-beam energy and control of the dose rate in chemTEM enabled imaging of reactions on a time frame commensurate with TEM image capture rates, revealing atomistic mechanisms of previously unknown processes.

Catalysis of chemical reactions by nanosized clusters of transition metals holds the key to the provision of sustainable energy and materials. However, the atomistic behaviour of nanocatalysts still remains largely unknown due to uncertainties associated with the highly labile metal nanoclusters changing their structure during the reaction. In this study, we reveal and explore reactions of nm-sized clusters of 14 technologically important metals in carbon nano test tubes using time-series imaging by atomically-resolved transmission electron microscopy (TEM), employing the electron beam simultaneously as an imaging tool and stimulus of the reactions. Defect formation in nanotubes and growth of new structures promoted by metal nanoclusters enable the ranking of the different metals both in order of their bonding with carbon and their catalytic activity, showing significant variation across the Periodic Table of Elements. Metal nanoclusters exhibit complex dynamics shedding light on atomistic workings of nanocatalysts, with key features mirroring heterogeneous catalysis.

such structures exist under ambient conditions and in total, only a few dozen 2D crystals have been successfully synthesized or exfoliated. While the unusual properties of graphene make it an interesting object of investigation itself, [1] it can also serve as a substrate to stabilize other, less obvious 2D materials. These include materials that do not by themselves form 2D phases, such as the covalent SiO 2 , [2] pseudo-ionic PbI 2 , [3] and metallic CuAu. [4] In the same spirit, layers of graphene have also been used to encapsulate materials. Metal atoms (in some cases forming nitrides [5,6] ) have been intercalated between a monocrystalline SiC surface and graphene to produce 2D metamaterials. [7][8][9] In other studies the encapsulation strategy has been applied in in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations of dynamics in liquids [10,11] and for protection of electron-beam-sensitive materials. [12,13] In addition, the inert and impermeable graphene envelope can also stabilize 2D layers of weakly bound molecules and atoms, and islands of C 60 fullerenes [14] and noble gases [15] have been Heterostructures composed of 2D materials are already opening many new possibilities in such fields of technology as electronics and magnonics, but far more could be achieved if the number and diversity of 2D materials were increased. So far, only a few dozen 2D crystals have been extracted from materials that exhibit a layered phase in ambient conditions, omitting entirely the large number of layered materials that may exist at other temperatures and pressures. This work demonstrates how such structures can be stabilized in 2D van der Waals (vdw) stacks under room temperature via growing them directly in graphene encapsulation by using graphene oxide as the template material. Specifically, an ambient stable 2D structure of copper and iodine, a material that normally only occurs in layered form at elevated temperatures between 645 and 675 K, is produced. The results establish a simple route to the production of more exotic phases of materials that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to stabilize for experiments in ambient.The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under