Anomalous characteristics of pore formation in Graphene induced by Si-nanoparticle bombardment
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Research Letter
Anomalous characteristics of pore formation in Graphene induced by Si-nanoparticle bombardment Jae Hyun Park, Department of Aerospace and Software Engineering and Research Center for Aircraft Parts Technology, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52828, South Korea Ramki Murugesan, Graduate School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52828, South Korea Jaekwang Lee, Department of Physics, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, South Korea Narayana R. Aluru, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA Address all correspondence to Jae Hyun Park at [email protected] (Received 31 July 2017; accepted 19 October 2017)
Abstract Graphene nanopores are utilized in various notable applications such as water desalination, molecular separation, and DNA sequencing. However, the creation of stable nanopores is still challenging due to the self-healing nature of graphene. In this study, using molecular dynamics simulations we explore the drilling of nanopores through graphene by bombardment with Si-nanoparticles. This enables the Si-passivation along the nanopore rim, which is known as an efficient way to stabilize graphene nanopores. The interplay between graphene and projectile causes the anomalous behaviors such as local maxima depending on particle size. The observations are thoroughly analyzed with interaction energy and shape changes.
Nanopores through graphene of single-atom thickness, graphene nanopores, are expected to realize extremely high efficiency in various applications such as DNA sequencing,[1,2] water desalination,[3,4] and selective separation of ions and chemical species.[5,6] This is because the flow rate through the pore dramatically increases with reduction of the substrate thickness. However, the size-controlled formation of a nanoscale hole in graphene is still challenging. Different from nanopores in other solid substrates created by ion beams,[7] graphene nanopores are typically drilled using beams of electrons (e-beams).[1,8,9] In this approach, the highly focused election beam of a transmission electron microscope operated at several hundred kV is focused onto the graphene continuously until achieving a hole of the designated size. However, the highacceleration voltage of the electron beams could potentially induce damage to the graphene around the pore. A good method for creating nanopores in graphene should satisfy: (1) controllable formation to the desired dimension and (2) stability (maintaining the shape of the hole) for the desired length of time. The ability to control the hole-size accurately is critical in many single-molecule analyses and size-specific separations of molecules because they utilize a property change by geometric discrepancy at the atomic level. For example, DNA sequencing with graphene nanopores uses the difference in the ionic current depending on the shape of the four
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