Atomically Precise Defect Engineering in graphene

Abstract

Defects have been observed in graphene and are expected to play a key role in the optical and electronic properties. Characterization of the atomic defects is important for fundamental understanding of material properties, due to the nature of the atomic bonding structure gives direct information regarding the bulk electronic and mechanical properties. However, the defects in graphene are still not well understood despite the growing number of experimental observations. For instance, the only experimentally realized the pentagon-heptagon pair or SW defects have been focused on the characterization of their structure in graphene, to evaluate and investigate the effect of geometrical defects on optical, electronic and magnetic properties are limited. Thus, the investigation of the chemical and physical properties depending on the defined defect play an important role in defect engineering of graphene, which can provide insight into understanding the structure-property relationships of graphene. Herein, we report the synthesis of structurally welldefined defective nanographenes containing azulene units both in solution and on surface (Figure 1), to investigate the effect of geometrical defects on optical, electronic and magnetic properties.[1-4] Our work offers insights for understanding and enables control of the electronic structure of expanded nanographenes and graphene at the atomic level.