Fabrication of Graphene Nanoribbons

Abstract

Graphene, a single layer trigonal carbon honeycomb, has enormous potential due to its outstanding physical properties compared even to single-wall carbon nanotubes. The most immediate application of graphene is expected to be additives for functional materials, such as conductive plastics, electronic inks, or field emitters, etc, although the current interest has arisen from electronic devices utilising fast electron mobility within the unique two-dimensional structure. In this work, we fabricate graphene nanoribbons where width and length are ~ 5 nm and ~ 10 nm, respectively (4 Å in thickness i.e., pure graphene) by a physico-chemical method utilizing crystalline graphite. The optimal material has been suspended in ethyl alcohol for months without any observable surface modifications. We also analyse the samples with Raman, X-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy.